Just Fall
by Princess Dystopia
Summary: Haketa has been broken and restored. Her life had been shattered and built back up. She has trusted and moved on, or so she thought. When her enemy, Kankuro, shows back up in her life with a new girl on his arm, she must reason with it. Sequel to Trust.
1. Oh, Hell

To all the readers of Trust: scared you, didn't I? ^^ Even though giving my faithful readers a bit of heartbreak at the end of the story was my intention, I do feel bad about it. I can't tell you how many messages I got saying I couldn't end it there, and you know what? You all were right, even though I never planned to end it there.

Well, this is definitely the sequel by popular demand/death treats (no, I'm joking). I hope you all enjoy it as much as you did the story before!

Review, please! It motivates me to write more!

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><p><em>"I thought I'd forget you, but I guess I forgot to." - Unknown<em>

"Lady Hokage, you can't possibly send Kyan and me out on this mission," I protested, trying to stand tall against the female leader sitting behind her cluttered desk in front of me. "Kyan is just learning and I'm not even the sort of Shinobi to do something like this!"

Lady Tsunade sighed in frustration and folded her hands on the surface. "I understand that, Haketa. However, chances are, the both of you will not have to participate in any fighting. We've already sent a team of Genin to retrieve him. All you've got to do is follow their trail and find any wounded. From that point, you should know what to do."

I tried my hardest to remain respectful toward her, but if something really were to happen, my younger sister and I could be seriously injured. Or killed. Sending a beginning Medical-Nin and a Courier-Nin out to track someone down was just insane.

"You're dismissed. Hurry and find them."

I could feel Kyan's anxiousness radiating from her body beside me as we bowed. "Ma'am," we both mumbled to the woman.

()()()

"This is ridiculous," Kyan hissed as we rummaged around the house, trying to find our gear.

I nodded in agreement, slipping on my black Courier-Nin outfit. Because I traveled mostly at night, Grandfather had made me a special full-body outfit before he passed away four months ago, woven from fine thread that was usually used to make the cloth on headbands.

In the past six months, many things had taken drastic turns. Kyan had regained her voice during the huge incident with the Chuunin Exams, an event I'd rather forget. Since then, getting her to shut up was almost impossible. She openly spoke her mind, working on her speech at the same time.

When she first started talking again, she had a serious stutter. Mother had told her it was okay to have because everyone understood her anyway, but she wouldn't listen to that. She worked her butt off to work on getting rid of it. It still happened sometimes, but for the most part, she spoke exactly how she did before she lost it.

Besides Kyan's voice returning, Grandfather had passed away. Poisonous fumes from the attack led by Orochimaru had entered his lungs and left him hospitalized for weeks until he finally went. Since then, Mother hired employees at the restaurant, giving Kyan and me the opportunity to pick back up on our Shinobi training.

Sure, we didn't turn out to be the type of Shinobi everyone else was, but it worked for us. Kyan decided to become a Medical-Nin while watching Grandfather die. All the medical terms and body parts had fascinated her. I, on the other hand, was appointed Courier-Nin.

Shortly after Lady Tsunade became Hokage, I was constantly making food deliveries to her office. Each time, she secretly timed me until she finally pointed out I was making it shorter each time. After that, I found myself on delivery missions to different villages.

The headband she awarded me was my most prized possession. When I wasn't out on deliveries to other villages, I wore it around my neck. Other times, it was tied around my forehead.

"Ready?" I asked Kyan, fastening my backpack onto my body. Her eyes searched my face, looking for my eyes. Sometimes I enjoyed the fact that my face was completely covered. People didn't know when I was watching them.

"Yeah. It's al-almost dark. We should hurry."

()()()

We rushed out of the village, scanning the destruction of the nearby forest carefully. There was obviously a large struggle. Not knowing who Lord Hokage had sent out after Sasuke made us worry. We didn't know who to look for.

The small radio on my hip made a soft static noise and Shizune's voice addressed me. "Haketa, have the two of you already set out?"

Kyan and I landed on a branch and I grabbed it off the black matching belt that hung loosely around me. I brought it up to my invisible mouth and replied, "We're about a mile out already. There are signs of fighting. Can you tell us who all you sent out?"

"Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuuga Neji, Inuzuka Kiba, Akimichi Choji, and Nara Shikamaru as their team leader."

"Right."

I hooked it back onto the belt and we continued to search. Not far away, the sound of thunder boomed. I bit down on my lower lip, hoping it wouldn't rain on us.

()()()

"Oh man," Kyan whispered, kneeling next to an unconscious Choji, who was leaned against a tree. He was severely beaten and bloodied, and the destroyed trees and giant holes in the ground gave away the fact that he most likely killed his enemy.

I grabbed the radio with a shaking hand and took a deep breath before talking into it. "Shizune, this is Chikaku Haketa. We've found Choji." I watched Kyan's hand start to glow a beautiful pale green color before she nodded to me. "He's in critical condition. Please send someone right away."

"Will do."

I swung my backpack around and kneeled over it, digging around until I found the small smoke pills. After cracking two of them, I placed them on the ground and watched the pink-colored smoke rise into the air.

Kyan stood up from Choji's body and scurried to my side. "Lets go."

Not even ten minutes later, we came across Neji, who was laying face-down on the ground. There was a hole in the chest, big enough to see completely through. His long beautiful hair was clumped together with blood. He, too, seemed to have killed his opponent.

Kyan ran to him and gently flipped him onto his back, sighing in relief that the injury wasn't near his heart like she thought it was. Like with Choji, I contacted Shizune and set off two more smoke pills before gathering my things and hurrying off again with my sister.

As we continued along the path, noting the arrows carved into some of the trees, we both noticed four different presences of Chakra. I wanted to tell Kyan to turn around and go back to the village, but I knew she would refuse, especially when people came into view.

The two of us hid in the shadows of the leaves of a tree, watching them closely. I recognized three of them, but the girl of the group was unfamiliar. Kiba, holding a wounded Akamaru in his arms, sat against a tree, talking with…Oh, hell.

"Its Kankuro," Kyan whispered. My stomach twisted into knots painfully.

It _was_ Kankuro, my ex-best friend/ex-boyfriend/I don't even know. I had met the Sunagakure local during the Chuunin Exams and it wasn't long before we were almost inseparable.

For nearly two months, we spent almost everyday together. I had told him everything to know about my life and my family, and he told me the same in return. Or, at least, I thought he did.

Right before the finals, he had begged me not to come watch him participate, but he wouldn't explain why. So, Kyan and I attended anyway. That's when the attack on Konohagakure started, with one of the Legendary Sannin, Orochimaru, pulling all the strings.

Kankuro's younger brother, Gaara, was the main distraction while our former Hokage was murdered. Sasuke had gone after Kankuro and his siblings away from the village to stop Gaara, so naturally, I followed with the help of Aburame Shino.

That's where I knew Kankuro had been planning to betray me the entire time. Shino and I attacked puppet master and in return, I found myself in the hospital because of Kankuro's attacks.

"He's going to hurt Kiba," I hissed. Kyan opened her mouth to object, but I grabbed a fist-full of her hair and dragged her down with me.

"Kyan?" Kiba mumbled, watching us land. Well, I landed on the ground. Kyan did a weird flopping action, thanks to me. Before Kiba had the chance to say my name, I rushed a finger to my unseen lips.

"Kyan?" Kankuro repeated, turning around to face us. I tried to ignore the urge to cry at the sound of his voice. For two entire months after the attack, I cried and moped because of him. I wouldn't do it ever again

The only thing that looked different about him was the design of his kabuki paint on his face.

Kyan hopped to her feet and pulled an emergency kunai knife from her pouch, holding it tightly just as I was doing. Both of us stared him down, watching his movements carefully. One wrong move and we would attack.

"Move away from Kiba," Kyan ordered, moving her gaze to the girl who stood next to Kankuro.

She was a bit taller than me with choppy blonde hair that stopped at her shoulders. Her green eyes watched Kyan and me with an almost panicked spark in them. Around her right thigh, her Sunagakure headband was tied tightly.

"We're not going to hurt him," Kankuro told her, holding up his hands. The girl copied his movements. "We saved the kid's life."

It was then that I noticed the signs of fighting. A large wooden puppet, somewhat resembling Crow, stood off to the side with blood trickling out from the cracks. The girl had a cut on her left ankle.

"He's right," Kiba defended. "If it weren't for them, Akamaru and I would be dead right now."

Kyan and I relaxed and she moved to the small dog. He whined heartbreakingly, struggling to open his eyes to look at her.

As Kyan held a glowing hand to the creature, I counted my remaining smoke pills. I had seven. Shikamaru and Naruto were still missing. I just hoped they weren't dead.

"Where's Haketa?" Kankuro asked my sister. Kiba met Kyan's eyes quickly before she answered his question.

"She's d-dead," she lied. "She never recovered from the fight you had with her and Shino. The p-poison ate away at her lungs until they collapsed."

All eyes fell on Kankuro. He stood motionless for a long time until a forced breath came from his lips. I almost felt bad for him, but then the part of me who still wanted revenge pushed that feeling away.

"Kyan," I said, making my voice deeper than usual. "Take these and go find the rest." I held out five pills to her, keeping two for myself. She nodded and gave Akamaru one last pat on the head before grabbing the small items and jumping off until she was out of view.

When I turned back to the rest of the group, Kankuro was sitting against the same tree Kiba was. The girl was kneeled in front of him, trying to get him to look up from his arms. Kiba gave me somewhat of an amused smirk.

"Kankuro," the girl mumbled. "Who's Haketa?"

"A really great friend of mine," he replied, glancing up at her. "Or, she was."

She sighed and lifted her hands, easing them under his hat and pushing it back so his mess of brown hair was exposed. My eyes widened when she placed a soft kiss on his forehead. He sighed in annoyance and glanced away.

"Serisu, not now."


	2. The Happy Couple

I'm sorry this took me so long to update. D: My aunt and uncle got me a mahogony piano and I've been completely obsessed with it. ^^;

Oh! I want to thank bloodyrosesx for her support and the suggestions she's sent me. :D They've helped a lot!

Enjoy and review, please! ^^

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><p><em>"The heart was made to be broken." - Oscar Wilde<em>

Rain began to pelt the cover we'd set up above us, just as we thought it would. Fortunately, I'd learned to be prepared for any sort of weather, including rain, so I naturally packed a medium-sized tarp in my backpack.

Kiba seemed unable to move, so Kankuro hooked the edges of the tarp to the trees surrounding him. The sky was growing dark, so I told Shizune our location. I also told her not to expect us back until morning, unless she could send backup to us.

"I hate the rain," Serisu told me, fumbling through her pouch. I refused to undress from my Courier-Nin suit, so naturally, nobody except Kiba and Akamaru (both were asleep now) knew who I was.

From her pouch, the blonde pulled out a compact mirror, checking her hair obsessively. I stared at her in silence. This was the girl who had been Kankuro's first? The girl who cheated on him, then made it out to seem like he was the bad guy for breaking up with her? The girl who…well, who was now his girlfriend again?

Speaking of the puppeteer, ever since Kyan lied to him and told him I was dead because of his actions, he hadn't said a word. Actually, he didn't seem to be all there.

I turned my attention away from Serisu and watched him. He sat on the ground, close enough to the edge of the tarp above him that rain was falling onto his open palms.

"Isn't he the cutest?" Serisu mumbled, demanding my focus again. She was also watching Kankuro, a dazed look on her face. "Want to know how we met?"

I felt my eye twitch with annoyance. In my imagination, I was shoving a kunai into both of her eye sockets. Deeply.

"Sure," I whispered in a strained voice.

"Our mothers were friends," she started, a small smile on her face. "He and his sister, Temari, would always come over to my house with Karura before his little brother was born. I never really played with Kankuro. He was always more interested in taking things apart and putting them back together. Then, we enrolled in the academy together a few years later and I guess you could say it was love at first sight."

She sighed dreamily and closed her eyes. Oh, I hated this girl. I wanted to ask her so badly about the part where she cheated on him, but I kept my mouth shut.

I noticed a small tear in the tarp right above her and smirked to myself. Before she could open her eyes, I grabbed a spare kunai and threw it at the split, opening it wider. The pool of water that had been accumulating on the top of the tarp spilled over through the hole and splashed on her head.

She gasped and cried out, moving away from the hole. "What the hell?" she screeched, covering her hair.

"Oh no," I mumbled halfheartedly. "Serisu, you're all wet. How did that happen?"

I stole a fleeting look at Kankuro, who was glancing back at us. I could've sworn I saw a small smirk on his lips.

()()()

Half-way through the night, the rain had let up some. Kiba and Akamaru hadn't woken up once. I checked their heartbeats every half hour to make sure they were still alive.

As I sat under the tarp, listening to the dog and his boy (no, not Serisu and Kankuro) snore, I also kept a close eye on the couple. Serisu lay comfortably by herself, wrapped in a restful ball. Kankuro lay somewhat near her (I noticed he distanced himself from her) on his back. His arms were behind his head and he stared upward.

"You can sleep, you know," Kankuro suddenly said, jolting my body awake. I was trying my hardest not to doze off, but it was harder than it seemed.

"No, thanks," I replied. I spoke in a deeper tone, just as I did before. "Even though Konohagakure and Sunagakure are allies again, I still don't trust you."

He was silent for a few moments. I struggled to keep my eyes open, but when he spoke again, I was wide awake.

"Did you know Haketa?" he questioned, tilting his head to look at me.

I fumbled my thumbs nervously. "A little," I lied. "I went to their restaurant a lot."

Kankuro glanced over at Serisu, who had mumbled a different guy's name along with some noises I don't feel comfortable with sharing, and shook his head.

"I went to that restaurant pretty often when I was there for the Chuunin Exams. They have the best soba noodles I've ever had."

Yeah, that's right. The best.

"Her mother and grandfather loved me, I think," he continued. "Kyan, not so much. I don't blame her. I wasn't really the nicest person when I met them." He paused and bit down on his lower lip. "I think that's why I liked started Haketa so much. Even though I was a jerk to her in the beginning, she didn't put up with my crap."

My stomach felt funny. I resisted my urge to crawl over to him and lay my head on his chest like I did that night he fell asleep at my house. When everything was perfect.

"I don't know why I'm telling you this," he went on. "You don't even know me. But I guess that's a good thing. You can't really judge me."

My hands doubled into fists. I wanted to tell him that I did know him. I knew almost everything about him. I knew about his mother's death, about the two parallel scars on his left elbow that served as birthmarks, about how he lost his first tooth because Temari had punched it out. I even knew about him and Serisu.

"What about her?" I asked, looking toward the sleeping girl.

"Serisu?" There was a hint of disgust in his voice. "We've had a bad past, but I guess I forgave her. I think…I think I'm only with her because she keeps my mind off Haketa."

Akamaru's whimpers caused Kiba to stir awake. He gazed down at his unconscious and wounded companion, whispered reassuring things to him, and fell back to sleep without acknowledging the rest of us.

"I don't know why I'm letting her death affect me so much," Kankuro said in a much quieter tone. "As a Suna Shinobi, I went through plenty of emotion-control exercises when I was at the academy, but…I don't know. I really don't. I mean, I've watched tons of people die. I've killed a lot of people. I just never intended to…Haketa was…I-"

"Kankuro," Serisu whined, scooting closer to him. She rested her head on his chest in the same way I used to.

Kankuro's jaw tightened and he gently placed a hand on her hair, stroking it like he did to mine. My body suddenly felt heavy and painful. I stood and, ignoring the drops of water falling from the sky, left the shelter of the tarp.

I couldn't continue to watch that.

()()()

It felt like years until morning finally came. Even though I was mentally and physically exhausted, I couldn't fall asleep. Images of Serisu and Kankuro filled my mind every time I tried.

Just as the sun's rays started to shine through the trees, Kyan, Gaara, and Lee found their way to our little camp. Lee carefully hoisted Kiba onto his back while Kyan held Akamaru's small body in her arms.

After taking the tarp down, letting all the water run off it, and folding it back up, I turned to face Gaara, who looked a lot different than when I last saw him at the Chuunin Exams. Even though that was only six months ago, he looked years older. He didn't have as much hate in his eyes.

"You have a radio on you, am I right?" he asked.

I nodded and held it out to him. "Yeah," I replied, "but its water-damaged. I can't get it to work."

Gaara took my radio from me and flipped it over, removing the back from it, which he handed back to me. He slapped it against his palm, holding the batteries tightly. After a few moments, he placed them back in their place and clicked the cover back.

"I used the sand to drain some of the water from the batteries," he told me. "It may not last long, but tell Lady Hokage who we have in our party."

I stared at him in amazement for only a moment before raising the radio to my lips. "Lady Tsunade? Shizune?" I asked loudly.

"Haketa, is that you?" Lady Hokage's voice replied.

Kyan's gasp made my heart plummet into my stomach. She locked gazes with the hooded Shinobi behind me. I closed my eyes tightly, wishing Lady Tsunade wouldn't have said my name.

"Lady Hokage, we're bringing back an injured Inuzuka Kiba and Akamaru," I told her quickly. I could feel Kankuro's eyes on the back of my head.

I opened my eyes to see Gaara's confused face. I hooked my radio back onto my waist and turned around to face Kankuro. Without making eye-contact, I looked at my sister.

"Kyan, go back to the village. I'm going to look for any more injured." Before she could answer, I took off in a random direction, praying Kankuro wouldn't follow me.

I wasn't sure how long I was traveling, but the entire time, scenarios constantly ran through my head. Kankuro knew who I was. He knew Kyan had lied about my death. He knew just who exactly he'd spilled his feelings to.

There were many things I expected him to do next. The one that worried me the most was him being so angry for being lied to, that he hurt Kyan. That thought made me halt on a sturdy tree branch.

"He wouldn't do that," I whispered to myself. But then again, he _had_ fought me during the attack on Konohagakure. He'd poisoned me and left me for dead.

"Haketa?"

I pulled out my final kunai and threw it behind me. I heard it hit something solid, but not fleshy. Turning around, I saw that I had lodged it into Temari's oversized fan. She stood, watching me with a concerned expression, and motioned her head back toward the way I came from.

"Come on," she told me. "It'll be fine."

I grabbed the part of my outfit that covered my face and pulled it back, taking a deep breath of fresh air. I hadn't even realized my eyes were full of tears until they spilled over. _I_ never went through those emotion-controlling exercises.

"I don't want to see him," I whispered to the Kunoichi in front of me.

"I know. I personally don't think it's a good idea for you two to see each other, but sooner or later, you'll have to go back to report to Lady Hokage."

Temari was right. I had to go back.

Dragging my feet, I followed her back to Konoha. She had informed me on her teamwork with Shikamaru. Other than a broken finger and a few scratches, he was perfectly fine. He was just worried sick about Choji, Neji, Kiba, and Akamaru.

"I'm going to go see Shikamaru at the hospital," she told me once we arrived to the Hokage's office.

"Right. I'll be here or at my house. You do remember where that's at, right?"

"Of course. I'll stop by later."

And with that, she was gone. I opened the door to Lady Tsunade's office to find her sitting behind her desk, like always. Gaara was sitting on a nearby bench, bent over a piece of paper with a pen in his hand. Whatever he was writing, he was concentrating furiously on it.

"I've come to report my mission status," I told her quietly, as not to break Gaara's focus.

"There's no need," she replied, standing up from her messy desk. "Kyan already stopped by and took care of it." She grabbed a medical book and blew the dust from the cover. "I'm on my way to the hospital to help with the wounded." She looked over to the redhead. "Gaara, when you're done, just place it on my desk and I'll mark it for approval. Haketa, I have another mission for you, but it'll have to wait for now."

She hurried past me, leaving me alone with Gaara. After a few seconds, he glanced up from the paper. "What's your sister's name again?" he asked.

"Kyan," I told him. "Why?"

"Report," he answered simply. I watched him write down her name, then hold the paper out to me. "Does this make sense to you?"

I took it from him and blinked furiously, trying to read the messy handwriting. In my entire life, I'd never met a boy with semi-decent calligraphy.

What he had written was a status report. A very intelligent one, too. Most of the words he used were ones I'd never heard. It seemed he wrote down the success of the support request Lady Tsunade had sent to his village. At the very end, he credited Kyan's medical abilities, saying she was advanced for the number of months she'd been studying.

"Yeah, it makes sense," I finally told him, returning the paper to his outstretched hand. "Um, do you know where Kankuro is?"

Gaara stared at me for a long while. "Yes," he eventually said. "You don't want to see him now. Kyan explained everything to me. Its best if you two go your separate ways."

"I guess," I mumbled, my gaze following his body as he slipped the paper onto the desk.

"But," he continued, his back facing me, "that's what Temari thinks. I don't care much for Serisu. She's…annoying, to say the least."

My eyes narrowed in a confused way at the boy. I didn't know quite what he was getting at.

"I think Kankuro mentioned he was going to your family's restaurant. Haketa, _I don't care much for Serisu_," he hissed.

His subtleness finally hit me. My mouth fell open. "Gaara, are you trying to tell me she's flirting with you?"

Gaara faced me again and gave me a stern look. Even though he didn't say anything, I knew the answer was yes, and she wasn't getting anywhere with it.

"Well," I told him, bitter revulsion boiling in my gut, "it was nice talking with you. I think I'm going to go see if my mother needs help at the restaurant."

I slammed the door on the way out of the office.


	3. Starting To Heal

It usually doesn't take me this long to update. D: I'm not sure why it did this time. I'm so, so, so sorry! I blame video games.

Enjoy and review, please! ^^

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><p><em>"The scars you can't see are the hardest to heal." - Astrid Alauda<em>

I knew people stared at me as I stormed out of the Hokage building, but I didn't care. Part of me expected Gaara to be right behind me, but when I turned my head, I saw that he wasn't.

My breathing was heavy in my ears as I walked (well, more like ran) to my family's restaurant. I wanted Serisu to be there with Kankuro. I wanted them both to see me without my face covered. I wanted the entire village to know what kind of person she was.

No, person would've been an understatement for her. No person would cheat on their boyfriend, then flirt with their boyfriend's younger brother behind his back once she had the guy back.

Serisu wasn't a person. She was a heartless hussy who would spread her legs for anything with a penis.

My body suddenly stopped moving. Although my muscles struggled to keep my pace, the rest of my body refused. Looking down at the ground, I saw a long shadow attached to my body.

"Shikamaru!" I screeched. "Let me go right now!"

"You need to calm down, Haketa," Shikamaru told me calmly, approaching me like he would a wild animal. I noticed his pointer finger was in a splint and his eyes were red, like he'd been crying.

"You don't even know what's going on!"

"Yes, I do. Temari told me all about you and Kankuro. By the looks of your face and how fast you were walking, I could tell you were on some kind of girl-killing mission. Ino gets that look sometimes."

"You don't understand!" I snapped. "She's been flirting with Gaara this whole time! Damn it, that's not right!"

"Its not your place anymore," he muttered. I gave him an odd look. His words swirled in my head until he repeated them. "Its not your place to go after Serisu. Kankuro doesn't belong to you anymore, just like you don't belong to him. Let it go. Its their relationship."

My gaze slowly dropped to our feet and his shadow released mine. My body relaxed instantly.

Shikamaru was right, as much as I didn't want to accept it. For six months, Kankuro hadn't been anything to me except a bitter memory. I didn't have the right to tell off Serisu. It was a problem between Serisu, Kankuro, and Gaara. It didn't involve me.

()()()

I felt somewhat better after a shower, an actual meal, and a clean change of clothes. As I brushed my hair out over my shoulder, I tried to focus on the good over the bad.

The good? Well, there was a lot of that. Neji, Kiba, Akamaru, Naruto (who had been seriously injured in his fight against the runaway Sasuke), and Choji were on fast tracks to recovering. Lee, who had recently received vital surgery, made it out with flying colors. He had even assisted Gaara in a battle against one of Orochimaru's henchmen, believe it or not.

The bad? Honestly, there was a lot of that, too. Sasuke had gotten away to join Orochimaru, which left a blow to the village. Beside the young Uchiha's great talent in the Shinobi Arts, he knew withheld information that could easily be used against us. Sakura was still devastated.

There was also the problem of Serisu.

Yes, I was still furious by the time 8 o'clock that night rolled around. I constantly told myself that Shikamaru was right and I needed to stay out of it, but my stomach still twisted over it.

A soft knock at my open door brought me back to reality. I glanced at my mirror, watching Temari enter my room with a faltering smile on her face. Placing my hairbrush on my desk, I stood up to hug her.

"I told you I'd drop by," she mumbled in my ear.

Actually, I was glad to see her. As it currently stood, she was the only connection I had left to Kankuro. Well, Gaara was kind of a connection, but he and I weren't quite on best friend-terms yet.

"I'm happy you're here," I told her.

"Um, Haketa, I brought someone. You two need to talk." She raised her hand to someone standing outside my door and motioned her fingers for them to come in.

Kankuro strolled in, a somber expression obvious on his face. He wasn't sporting his kabuki paint or black puppeteer suit. Instead, he wore a dark blue tank top and black pants.

My breath caught in my throat and I took an involuntary step away from him. "Why are you here?" I hissed, trying to remember where my weapons were. Oh, that's right. One was probably still in Temari's fan and the rest were spread around the forest.

"I wanted to talk with you," he said persistently as Temari snuck out, closing the door behind her. I faintly heard Gaara and Kyan's voices behind the wood.

"You think I give a damn about what you want?" I huffed and returned to my seat in front of my mirror, obsessively brushing my hair again. "Go away."

"No," he replied. I glared at him through the mirror. "No, I won't go away. Not until we talk."

"There's nothing to talk about, Kankuro. Just go back to your…girlfriend-thing. I'm sure she misses you," I muttered sarcastically.

He returned the glare. It was apparent that I hurt his feelings or offended him, but who cares?

"Serisu is on her way back to Suna to report our mission to the village elders," he told me matter-of-factly. "And she isn't my girlfriend…" He sighed heavily, then added, "anymore."

I brought my brush down to my lap, my head overflowing with confusion. "What do you mean?" I asked, turning around in my chair.

Kankuro crossed his arms over his chest defensively. "When I was talking about her to what I thought was just a regular Courier-Nin, I realized I was with Serisu only because I needed someone to take your place. After Tsunade gave you away and I realized you're still alive, I left Serisu."

Not knowing quite what to say, I blurted, "You know, she's been flirting with-"

"-Gaara, I know. She isn't the most subtle person in the world and sometimes he isn't either. I noticed he hated being around her when we started dating again. I even caught her leaning over the table at him, trying to show off her cleavage. Gaara isn't interested in girls yet, I don't think."

I closed my eyes tightly and ran an exhausted hand over my face. I was somewhat flattered that he left her because he found out I was alive, but it still didn't make up for the fact that he'd betrayed me.

"Just leave," I sternly told him, focusing my attention on a stuffed animal on my bed that had fallen to it's side. As I fixed it, I forced my hair to shield my watering eyes.

"Why?" he demanded to know. "Why do you want me to leave so damn badly, Haketa?"

Hearing my voice come from his mouth was too much. My chest tightened painfully and I doubled my hands into fists, shaking as I tried my hardest to stop my crying.

"Because you broke my trust!" I cried out, whipping my body back around to look at him. "I trusted you with my _life_, and you turned against me!" Even though I wasn't sure why, I took a step closer. "What did I do to you that was so horrible that…that you couldn't tell me what your plans were? Don't you think I deserved that much?"

"It was an order from the Kazekage!" he retorted. "How was I supposed to know Orochimaru had disguised himself as my father?"

"Did you not trust me enough to tell me the stupid plans? I could've saved my grandfather's life!"

Kankuro seemed at a loss for words as he stared at me. I bit down on my lower lip and tilted my head down, not wanting him to see me cry anymore. Instead of just ignoring me like I expected, he moved closer and wrapped his arms tightly around me, burying my face in his chest. His familiar, delicious scent just made my heart hurt more.

"I hate you! I _hate_ you! I HATE YOU!" I yelled, pounding roughly on his chest with my fist with every "hate." I delivered one more, weaker punch, whispering, "I hate you."

He allowed me to cry on him for…I'm not sure how long. At one point, my legs felt as if they were about to give out, so I broke away from him to sit on my bed. Kankuro sat next to me and we fell into a silence aside from my sniffling.

Sitting next to him felt weird, as if it wasn't actually happening. Even though we didn't speak again for the longest time, I caught myself stealing hidden glances at him.

My gaze traced his body, my imagination torturing me. Serisu's hands had, once again, touched him. I didn't want to know quite where she touched him, but I had a pretty good idea. Just when I thought I'd cried all the tears out, more came.

It wasn't fair to Kankuro. Even though I still felt betrayed by him, I still didn't think what Serisu had been doing was right. Even though I'd only spent a few hours with the girl, I somewhat knew how she thought.

She liked being in control and having people wrapped around her finger. Having the two brothers (or so she thought) at the same time must've felt like heaven to her. I just didn't understand how a girl could act like that.

"I'm sorry, Haketa," Kankuro finally said. My heavy eyes settled again on his figure. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about the attack. I'm sorry for bringing Serisu here. You know, I'm just sorry."

Ideas raced through my head. "How long are you guys here for?" I asked him.

"Until we get word back from the elders of our village. Serisu is going to come back and serve as an escort, but Lady Hokage is combining a mission she's giving to a Konoha Shinobi with one of ours."

I smiled a little to myself. The trip from Konoha to Suna took about a day and a half without breaks. "Can you come here at around noon tomorrow?" I questioned. "I want to take you somewhere."

My question put him off. He gave me an odd look, but eventually replied, "Uh, yeah. Sure."

I stood up from my bed and opened the door for him. "You can go now."

I kept my head down as he walked past me. A breath caught in my throat as I watched his feet stop for a second, then continue walking.

My body and mind felt strange as I curled up on my bed, shutting my eyes tightly. I tried my hardest to put everything together in my head. Kankuro was back, he had broken up with his cheating girlfriend because he found out I was still alive, and I had made plans with him, even though he had tried to kill me half a year ago.

Damn, what was I thinking?


	4. Going With The Flow

Oh, goodness! I'm so terribly sorry this took so long to update! D: I've been busy with band camp for the past two weeks and barely had any time to write. But on the upside, I'm enjoying color guard!

Enjoy and review, please! ^^

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><p><em>"The heart is the only broken instrument that works." - T.E. Kalem<em>

"Where are we going?"

"How many times are you going to ask that, Kankuro?"

"As many as it takes until I get a reasonable answer."

"You'll see."

"That's not reasonable."

I sighed to myself, fastening my backpack tighter on my shoulders. I made sure to be extra careful with it. After all, the flowers that were placed inside were delicate. I didn't want to smash them.

Behind me, Kankuro was hot on my trail as we walked through the Konohagakure streets. We had left my house about fifteen minutes before and I wasn't telling him where we were going until he figured it out himself.

My empty stomach growled softly, but I didn't want to stop and eat quite yet. I didn't eat when I left the house simply because of my nerves. However, I somewhat regretted it now.

We passed a house that I kept my eye on. If Ino had seen me walk past with Kankuro, I knew I'd be attacked with questions. I knew all of the Shinobi teams around my age knew about the secret relationship I'd had with the Suna kid and what happened between us. I didn't want to waste hours giving out explanations of my actions. I wasn't even entirely sure what I was doing.

Kankuro and I soon came to a hill that wore scattered gravestones and different kinds of foliage. I stopped and swung my backpack around, cautiously taking out the flowers, before heading toward two stones that were placed near each other.

Dried flower petals were set around the stone that had obviously been there longer. It had a few more cracks than the more recent one next to it. As I stood in front of them, my gut twisting hard, Kankuro kneeled down and brushed dirt off the engraved letters with his palm.

"Chikaku Nobu," he read aloud, patting his dirty had on the grass by his feet.

"My father," I explained to him. "I come here sometimes when I want to talk to him. And now…" I turned my head to the other gravestone. "I come here to talk to my grandfather."

When Kankuro left before, I'd spent a lot of time here soon after Grandfather died. I'd asked them both why he had done that to me and if it was just part of being a boy. Of course, I never got answers from them, so I figured it was just something I'd either have to figure out on my own or forget about.

"Why did you bring me here, Haketa?" Kankuro asked. There was a demanding tone to his voice as he stood up straight and faced me. From the look on his face, I knew he wasn't asking just to have something to talk about. He wanted a solid answer.

I placed the flowers between the two stones and replied, "I wanted you to meet my father. That's all." Honestly, I wasn't sure why I brought Kankuro along. Having him there with me felt right, though.

We didn't talk for a while after that. I started to think about Kankuro's father. Shortly after the attack, news came back to Konoha of the true Kazekage's death. That left Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara as orphans, but from what I saw, they were somewhat closer to each other because of it.

"I heard about your father," I finally said, looking up at his face. He was staring down at Father's gravestone intently. "I'm sorry it had to happen like that."

Kankuro shook his head. "Don't be. He was a decent Kazekage, but he didn't know how to be a father. Everything feels the same back home, just with one less body walking around the house."

I sat down and crossed my legs over each other, enjoying the light breeze blowing about and the warm sun on my back. "What about your mother?" As soon as Kankuro's head shot down so he could look at me, I felt as if I'd asked the wrong thing. Was she someone who nobody spoke of?

"What do you mean?"

"Did she know how to be a mother?"

Kankuro exhaled slowly and took a seat next to me. "Yes," he told me, a small smile on his face. "From what I remember, she was great. She did everything right. She changed our diapers, fed us, kissed our cuts when we fell and came crying to her. She held us when we wanted to be held. She did everything. I just…I wish she would've been around for Gaara like she was for Temari and me."

Something changed in his eyes as he talked about her. It was easy to tell he admired her and missed her. Even though she had only been with him for a few years, they had the normal bond a mother and son were meant to have and it had been strong while it lasted.

"But people don't last forever," Kankuro added austerely.

I nodded in agreement and closed my eyes. He was right. People _don't_ last forever. Eventually, everyone dies, which meant you had to enjoy your time with them while you can.

Yes, Kankuro had betrayed me and hurt me more than I would have ever thought possible by bringing Serisu back with him, but he wasn't going to be alive forever and neither was I. I couldn't hold a grudge over him just because he hurt my feelings. If I did and something had happened to him in the future, I would have to live with the regret.

"Stand up," I told him, hurrying to my own feet.

Confused, he mimicked my movements and stood in front of me, looking down at my face. I smiled to him and wrapped my arms around his neck, lifting myself to my tippy toes. He hesitated before wrapping his arms around my waist.

"You know," I mumbled against him, "I'm glad you're here, even though I think you grew three more inches."

"You didn't grow at all," he playfully told me, nuzzling his face into the side of my neck.

We weren't quite back to the way we were, but I didn't expect it to ever be like that again. Being friends was enough for me.

()()()

"Being a Courier Nin is a lot more exciting than working at the restaurant. The pay is a lot better, too," I explained as we waited eagerly for our food. Kankuro crossed his arms over his chest and frowned at me.

"I really wish you'd let me pay for my own food."

I shook my head, countering his frown with a large grin. "Nope. Trust me, I have more than enough for the both of us. In fact, I could pay for Temari and Gaara to eat, too."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. Temari eats all the time, but she never puts on any weight. It makes up for Gaara, I guess. He doesn't eat much."

Our food came soon after he finished talking. We ate in silence, aside from the immature snickers caused by flicking dry food at each other. As we ate, I'd forgotten all about the reason why I'd been so mad at him and for a long while, it felt as if he never left.

By the time we were done enjoying ourselves, the sky was beginning to grow dark. I paid for our food and ducked under (I didn't have to duck far) Kankuro's arm as he held the door open for me.

I noted the strange feeling in my gut as we made our way to my house. I wouldn't quite call it the feeling of homesickness, but it was very close to that. Serisu would be back from Suna in a day or two, if she had stayed with a continuous pace. That meant the three siblings would leave once again.

"What's wrong?" Kankuro asked suddenly.

I frowned and glanced up at his face. "Nothing. I'm just thinking."

"About what?"

"Don't worry about it."

He groaned and folded his arms over each other. "You know I hate it when you do that. If you get that little thinking crease between your eyebrows, it means you're thinking about something that's making you upset."

My house grew into sight and I could see the living room light was on. Mother must've closed up the restaurant early or Kyan was home from her studies.

I opened my mouth to tell Kankuro about how I felt, but decided against it. Even though we were on friend terms again, I didn't want him to think everything was 100% okay again because I would miss him when he left.

"We're back!" I called out when I opened the front door to the house. Temari's head poked out from around the corner and she waved a quick hand to us.

"Everyone's in the kitchen."

Kankuro and I advanced into the crowded room. Gaara, Kyan, and Temari sat around the kitchen table, being fed endless amounts of food by Mother. She was the type of woman who would never let anyone go hungry and it was obvious she was overfeeding them.

Two empty plates were shoved to Temari's right side and she reclined in her chair, placing a hand over her protruding stomach. Kyan's eyelids drooped slightly as they always did when she didn't have anymore food room. Gaara sat motionless in front of a half-eaten plate, chopsticks securely held in his hand. He seemed to be mentally preparing himself to take another bite.

Mother, who was still hovering over the stove with a stirring spoon connecting her hand to a pot of what seemed like soup, met my eyes curiously. I knew she wanted every single detail about my day with Kankuro, but I wasn't ready to share it with anyone. I just wanted time to think about it by myself.

Small talk emerged from Kyan's mouth, which everyone (except Gaara, who seemed to be dead-set on finishing that plate of food) engaged in. It continued for a little less than an hour when Temari noted how dark it was getting and they needed to be back at the hotel in case Serisu came back early.

As everyone left the room, leaving Kankuro and I alone, I couldn't help but feel like they'd all planned that move. I faced him somewhat awkwardly, not sure were to go from that point.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow then?" he muttered, nibbling on the corner of his lower lip with a canine tooth.

"Uh, sure," I replied, "unless I get called out on a mission."

Kankuro inhaled deeply and unrepentantly took a step closer, wrapping his arms around my waist. As much as I still didn't want to just give in, I instantly returned the embrace, burying my face into him.

"Thanks for today," he whispered in my ear. My stomach twisted once again as he turned his head and pressed his lips to my cheek.

Words weren't spoken after that. He left immediately with his siblings, which gave my own family free reign to bombard me with questions.

"Not now, please," I told them, giving them a defeated glance. "I just don't feel like talking about it."

They didn't argue as I made my way up to my room and closed myself off to them. After changing clothes and brushing out my hair, I found myself on my bed, curled up with my blankets held close to my chest.

As thoughts raced through my head, I tossed and turned for hours. Even though everything was finally settling down, I was still confused beyond belief.

I wasn't sure what was going to happen, but I just hoped for the best.


	5. Reflections

Short chapter and very delayed, I know. D: I apologize!

Review and enjoy!

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><p><em>"All trust involves vulnerability and risk, and nothing would count as trust if there was no possibility of betrayal." - Robert C. Solomon<em>

I remained in bed for a long time the next morning. I wasn't quite ready to get up and face the day.

As soon as my alarm clock starting blaring in my ear, my fist swung over and slammed on the "off" button. I didn't want to wake anyone else up because I knew if I did, they'd expect me to get up, too. "Laziness" was my middle name these days.

My mind wandered to the three siblings. Knowing Gaara never slept, I wondered if Kankuro and Temari were awake yet. How far away was Serisu? How much longer did I have to spend with Kankuro before we parted ways once again?

I started to chew on the inside of my cheek. Would I ever hear from him again once they left? If he had still been with Serisu, that answer probably would've been a solid "no." But now…I wasn't entirely sure. After all, it did seem like he wanted to be friends again.

A soft chuckle came from my throat. "Friends," I whispered to myself, thinking back to when he and I had been just that.

()()()

"_Why can't I go watch you?" I asked for the hundredth time that day. Even though the Chuunin Exams were three weeks away, I wanted to know at that moment why Kankuro didn't want me coming._

"_Because I know you're supporting me, even if you're at home," he replied, hooking his thumbs on the belt loops on my pants. Every time I asked that question, he gave me a different answer._

_I frowned and leaned slightly away from him, placing my hands on the balls of my feet. He, too, leaned back, uncrossing his legs from under me to stretch them out on my bed. We had many entangled sitting positions, but this was one of our favorites. However, if any of my family members found us like this, there would be fighting. It was the traditional straddling position, but there was nothing sexual about it. _

"_You want to know what I think?" I questioned, crossing my arms over my chest._

_He raised an eyebrow and gave me that cocky smirk he used every so often when dealing with people who amused him. "Depends. Will it make me upset?"_

"_I think you're scared that they'll pick me to fight you instead. You're scared I'll beat you," I joked. _

_Kankuro's smirk broke out into a full-blown smile and he nodded. "You're a genius, Haketa. That's exactly why. How'd you know I'm terrified of you?"_

"_Like you said, I'm a genius."_

_Suddenly, the smile fell into a straight line and he glared daggers at me. With one swift motion, I was pushed onto my back and he was on all fours above me. Honestly, I was alarmed until the tip of his nose touched mine._

"_You know I'd never intentionally hurt you, right?" he mumbled. His breath tickled my lips and I tried my hardest not to lick them._

"_I-I guess."_

()()()

Thinking back on it, what Kankuro said was true. He never _intentionally_ hurt me. The only times I was hurt by his actions was when he made Crow tackle me and when the poison gas got into my lungs. The puppet didn't even tackle me that hard. I was sort of a weakling back then.

From the hallway, I started to hear rustling noises. Kyan must've been awake and getting ready to start her day. I sighed to myself. I should've been doing the same thing, but I just felt so exhausted. All I wanted to do was lie in bed all day.

"G-Get up," Kyan told me, practically kicking my door open. I instantly wrapped myself up deeper into my blankets, hiding my face from her. There was no way I was leaving my bed yet.

I squealed in laughter as she lay on top of me, finding the bottoms of my feet. I tried my hardest to kick her off, but as she tickled my left foot, she sat on my right leg.

"STOP!" I playfully screamed, trying to catch my breath in between gasps for air. Finally, she released me and pushed me from my bed. I landed on the hard floor on my butt and pouted, crawling toward the door. "You're a terrible person, Kyan."

"Yeah, I kn-know."

Looking at myself in the mirror of the bathroom, I frowned as my mess of hair caught my attention. I began the odious task of running a brush through it while attempting to picture the hands that had once been familiar to me smoothing it out while I fell into a languid state.

Serisu's face flashed through my mind and the hairbrush came to a sudden halt. There were so many different kinds of thoughts that involved her running through my head.

The second I imagined her and Kankuro touching and kissing, my gut swirled with pain. Although I had, for the most part, pushed away my rancor feelings for the girl, I could still feel the remnants of jealousy smacking against my subconscious.

Why exactly did I still feel jealous of her? Other than the fact that she lived in the same village as Kankuro, could see him any time she really wanted to, and had gotten her hands on him many times, I wasn't sure. After all, he _did_ leave her because of me.

I watched a devious smirk form on my drowsy face. That little fact shot my mood up instantly. Kankuro left Serisu for _me._

Suffocating my face into a damp towel, I shook my head. Why would that make any difference? If I were Kankuro, I would've left Serisu for _any_ girl. It wasn't as if he and I would ever become what we used to be, right?

"That's exactly right," I replied aloud to my reflection.

I could've sworn my reflection rolled her eyes at that statement.


	6. Fighting Words

_"Trust in what you love, continue to do it, and it will take you where you need to go." - Natalie Goldberg_

"You called for me, Lady Hokage?"

Lady Tsunade, her head buried in the piles of contracts that needed signing, slowly lifted her eyes to meet mine. Her facial expression worried me slightly, but then again, I'd been worrying ever since my mother had told me earlier that the Hokage needed to see me as soon as possible. My instant assumption was that I'd done something wrong.

"Saiji is dead," Tsunade bluntly said. Her gaze remained locked to mine, as if waiting for my emotions to kick in and for me to fall to the ground in tears. I almost did, too.

Saiji had been a man about three years older than me and who had served as one of my instructors during my Courier-Nin training sessions. Although we wore dark colors while out on missions, it was hard to miss the patches of untidy blonde hair that poked out from his hood or his piercing green eyes that sometimes shown brighter than Sakura's did.

"How?" I finally managed to ask after composing my inner thoughts. Saiji had always been swift and strong, so I imagined only a natural disaster could have killed him.

Lady Tsunade's hands folded properly on the top of her cluttered desk. "I'd sent him to pick up a parcel from Sunagakure just before Uchiha decided to leave. Early this morning, Serisu sent word back of how she found him dead. It seems he was ambushed."

I didn't quite know how to process any of that. When I'd taken the Courier-Nin job, they'd made it very clear of just how dangerous the position was. However, we were also trained on the various ways to escape: smoke bombs, distractions, and simply speed. Damaging trade items and documents was completely unacceptable, and while defending against or attacking the enemy, it was almost impossible to protect said item.

"This being the case," she went on, "I'd like to assign you to a double-mission of sorts."

Fear swirled in my gut from her words. I wanted to tell her that I wasn't interested in a mission in which I could end up like Saiji and walk away to pretend I was never there. But instead, I remained standing straight and attentive. "Yes, ma'am."

"These are the coordinates Serisu sent of Saiji's body location. I'd like you to take Kyan to the body so she can identify the attacking village. Your job is to bring back the parcel." Folded in her hand was a small piece of paper.

"I'm guessing that's only the first half of the mission?" I assumed, taking the paper from her with trembling fingers.

A soft, yet cocky smirk graced her lips. "Exactly right. The second part is something I was saving for later when Saiji returned, but under these circumstances, I'm sending you in his place. Because you will be in Sunagakure territory, and some people are still a little hostile, to say the least, I'm sending Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro with you. Serisu won't be serving as an escort, so you will."

I kept my mouth shut to hide my teeth slamming together. Traveling with Gaara and Temari, I was okay with. But with _Kankuro?_ I wasn't exactly keen on that, seeing as I was expecting the trip to be very awkward.

"This mission will take a few weeks, a month at the most," she continued to explain. "While you prepare for your journey, I'll write up a hotel referral for you and Kyan to stay at."

"A month?" I repeated, throwing her a confused glance. "Why so long?"

She shifted her weight in her chair uncomfortably. "Well," she muttered just before bringing her fist up to her mouth and clearing her throat, "your mother recently came to me with a proposal. Your family's restaurant has been doing very well since it first opened. She and I have talked about expanding the business to other villages. Sunagakure has already agreed to owe us on several occasions, so it would only make sense to start there."

At my sides, my hand doubled into fists, crumpling the paper inside my right hand. Our restaurant had been strictly a Konohagakure business for years and that was how I wanted it to stay. A large part of the reason why the village received so many tourists during festivals and other events was because of us. If we were in another village, we wouldn't be unique anymore.

"During your time there, you'll be speaking with business and building owners. So, go inform your sister of this. I've already told the three siblings to meet you two at the front gates in an hour."

"Ma'am," I hissed, bowing slightly to her before turning on my heel to hurry out.

()()()

"You're n-not okay with this, huh?" Kyan questioned me as she watched me toss clothes around my room. I wasn't sure what to bring and with the siblings waiting downstairs (my mother insisted they met us at home so she could stuff more food into them), time wasn't quite on my side.

"Not really," I told her honestly, shoving yet another tank top into my backpack. We _were_ going to the desert. It only made sense to take light clothes.

"Is it because of Kankuro?"

I wanted to tell her the truth for that question, but I decided against it. Besides, it wasn't as if I had a problem traveling with Kankuro. I just had a problem with the awkwardness. "No, its not," I replied. "I just feel like Father would have wanted the business to stay only in Konoha."

"Haketa, F-Father is dead."

My body involuntarily stopped moving, hunched over my backpack. "Do you think I'm that stupid, Kyan?" I barked at her. "I know he's dead."

She put her hands up, her palms facing me, and shook her head. "All I'm saying is th-that it doesn't matter anymore. The restaurant ca-can't stay in one place forever."

"Haketa, Kyan, you're keeping them waiting!" Mother called from downstairs. Temari's nervous chuckle followed shortly after.

"Its okay. We're in no rus-"

"Nonsense! HAKETA! KYAN! GET DOWN HERE _NOW!_"

I let out an exasperated huff and swung my backpack over my shoulder, following Kyan as she walked quickly down the stairs. Mother was waiting impatiently, posed in the typical "angry-mother" stance. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her right foot was tapping on the ground.

"You two should know better than to keep guests waiting," she growled at us. I wanted to roll my eyes and scoff, but I knew I'd die if that happened.

Kankuro, Temari, and Gaara weren't exactly "guests." They knew where the cups were, so therefore, they lived at our house.

Speaking of those three, they looked exhausted already. I knew it was from the food my mother had prepared for them because I knew she made a lot. Kyan and I had listened to her comments once they arrived and we both tried our hardest not to feel pity for them.

"Gaara! Look how skinny you are! I swear, you've lost five pounds since I saw you the other night!" Mother had exclaimed when she opened the door. "Don't worry, though! I've made enough food for the entire village!"

"Are we ready?" Temari asked, gazing out the window. "I'd say sundown is in about three hours. It's a good idea to make as many tracks as we can before night comes. Oh, I almost forgot. Here, Haketa, from Lady Hokage."

All eyes fell on the piece of salmon-colored paper Temari passed on to me. The hotel referral, no doubt. Glancing around, I shoved the paper into my pocket and said, "Its not like it was a drug deal, guys."

"Well, with you," Kankuro muttered, flashing a soft smirk at me, "you never know what you could get your hands on."

While everyone's attention was focused on Kyan as my mother straightened out her hair as if she were getting her picture taken, I playfully nudged the puppeteer at his comment. "Whatever," I replied, mock-anger on my face. "You don't know me."

His eyebrows lifted and I could tell he was thinking, "Really, Haketa? I don't know you?"

As we ventured out from the house, trying to ignore my hysterically crying mother ("My babies are leaving me so soon!"), Kyan, Gaara, and Temari seemed to purposefully walk in front of Kankuro and me, creating their own conversation in which it was obvious there was no more room for two extra people to join in.

"So," Kankuro started once we reached the village gates, "are you excited to finally see _my_ village?"

"You mean I finally get to experience the constant sandstorms, the mud brick abodes, heat that never seems to go away, even during winter? That sounds wonderful."

He looked down at me oddly with a look I hadn't seen in, well, six months. "That sounds familiar. It feels like I said that exact same thing half a year ago."

I shrugged, trying to get rid of that expression on his face. It was a strange type of sadness, the kind of missing something or someone. "I don't know what you're talking about. Everything I say is 100% Haketa original."

He didn't say anything after that. He just chuckled under his breath and turned his head forward, watching the long road ahead of us.

Looking at his face, the way the sun hit it and brought out his features from under the kabuki paint, I couldn't help but grin. This was the Kankuro I remembered. The one who talked with sarcasm most of the time and who didn't worry about anything.

"Maybe this won't be so bad after all," I whispered to myself.

"You know, Haketa, talking to yourself is the first sign of being a schizophrenic."

"Shut up, doll boy."

"Oh, thems is fightin' words. Come at me."


	7. Murderer

I'm back from the dead! Well, okay, not the dead. Just piles and piles and _piles _of schoolwork. So, close enough.

Anyway! I'm sorry this was so late. It has been a little over a month since I last updated. I know, I suck. D:

Well, enjoy and review!

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><p><em>"The best proof of love is trust." - Joyce Brothers<em>

"We'll stop here for the night," Gaara announced about two hours after leaving the village. The five of us came to halt to look around at our surroundings.

We were still in Fire Country territory, so there were still miles of foliage left to venture through. If I still hadn't been somewhat terrified of the redhead, I would've argued about stopping. The sun wasn't completely down yet, which left us more time to continue.

"No complaints here," Kankuro muttered, shifting his puppets on his back. "Besides, I'm pretty hungry."

"We _just_ ate before we left their house," Temari scolded, jutting her chin toward Kyan and me. "How can you be hungry already?"

Giving her a quick eye-roll, the puppeteer turned his back toward her and placed the large, white-wrapped object against a tree trunk. "You know, Temari, _some_ of us like to keep our figure, so we don't eat that much."

"_Excuse me?_ You don't eat that much?"

While they bickered back and forth, I swung my backpack over my shoulder, searching around for the tarp we had used a few days ago. Frowning to myself, I began to pull everything out: my Courier-Nin outfit, a hairbrush, clothes I'd brought for the Suna heat, a toothbrush, extra socks, make-up, pencils, and identification cards. However, there was no tarp.

"Damn, Haketa, did you pack enough things?" Kankuro muttered, gazing at all my belongings from over my shoulder. I could feel the embarrassment on my face.

"Obviously not," I replied, standing up straight. "I forgot that tarp."

"That's all right," Gaara interjected, tilting his head back to look up at the trees. "It seems there are enough leaves still on the trees to cover us if it does rain."

I sighed, allowing my shoulders to slump, and gathered everything into my backpack. Kankuro chuckled as he stretched his arms over his head. "Don't look so upset, Haketa. Everyone can be forgetful sometimes."

I didn't reply to him. I was too upset with myself. If we truly had needed the tarp, it would've been my fault that we didn't have it. I should have checked, double-checked, and triple-checked that I had everything we could possibly need before we left. Looking at my backpack, though, I wondered if I would've even had enough space inside for it along with all my other things.

()()()

Only a few hours later, everyone (except Gaara) was beginning to feel somewhat drowsy. Kyan and Temari huddled close to the fire we'd started, using their body heat, Kyan's blanket, and the embers to keep themselves warm.

Gaara sat off to the side, staring into the blaze in thought. I couldn't help but watch him at random moments. When his expression wasn't completely emotionless, his mouth would press into an even deeper frown and his nose would wrinkle, as if something upsetting had crossed his mind.

Kankuro mimicked his brother in a way. He, too, stared thoughtfully into the fire, but the way he did it, well…I'm not exactly sure how to describe it. His mouth twitched to the side, telling me he was chewing on the inside of his cheek, a habit I figured out he had when trying to make a decision. He sat with his legs crossed in front of him, his back bent over, and his elbows resting on his legs. He rested his right cheek in his palm and chewed on his left.

I sat on the opposite side of him, closer to the other two girls. Trying to keep myself awake, I drew random animals in the dirt. My favorite tiny picture turned out to be a flower-like cat-thing. Personally, I thought it was adorable. Kyan had giggled at it, though.

As the night dragged on, parts of my memory started to go. I remember glancing up at Kankuro, meeting his gaze, then rushing to look back down at my deformed flower-cat. Then, I remember Kyan and Temari falling into each other, creating a small pile of sleep. The last thing I remember was sitting up suddenly, noting the died-out fire and an attractive-smelling shirt falling from my body.

"Kankuro?" I whispered into the darkness. The only reply was the snoring of two girls. "Gaara?"

I grabbed onto the shirt and held it up to my body. It seemed to engulf me, telling me that it belonged to Kankuro. But where did they go?

Pulling the fabric over my frame, I hurried to my backpack and gripped a few small weapons. I wasn't even sure where to start looking until I came across a footprint. I bent down and gently ran my palm over it, watching the grains of dirt fall into it. A fresh one, no doubt.

Cold, misty air painfully smacked against my face as I jumped from branch to branch, following the direction that the footprints on the ground had pointed to. The air filling my lungs stung, but I ignored it for the moment, quickening my pace.

Finally, I came across something, or actually, some_one_. A lone girl hiding behind a large tree trunk, gasping for air. I stopped suddenly to walk toward her, but when I got too close, she threw a Senbon at me, nicking my leg.

"Back off," she panted, glaring at me. Her voice punched hard at my gut.

"Serisu?" I whispered. "What the hell are you doing here?"

I squinted my eyes to get a better look at her. Blood peeked out from various cuts on her body and her lip had been busted open. Her clothes had been ripped and torn, leaving her in almost nothing. A neon green bra flashed out at me.

"Haketa, get away from her!" Kankuro's voice echoed from an unknown place. Distracted, I glanced around for any sign of him or Gaara.

Before I had a chance, Serisu let out a struggled cry and tackled me back onto the ground. Rocks dug painfully into the back of my head and body. She doubled her hand into a fist and pounded me in the temple twice before I grabbed onto her wrist.

"KONOHA _SCUM!_"

A wave of sand pulled her to the side and pinned her down next to me. I stayed on my back, trying to fight off the sense of dizziness that consumed me. Feet landed next to me and I was helped onto my own feet.

"Are you okay?" Kankuro breathed, holding me up with one hand and inspecting my face and head with the other. I nodded quickly, swatting his hands away.

"I'm fine. What's going on?" I demanded to know as I looked at Serisu's struggling body. As soon as Kankuro let me go, I started to falter, so I grabbed onto his arm for balance.

"She attempted a surprise attack while you were asleep," Gaara replied, coming from the darkness in a very creepy manner. "As of tonight, she has committed two crimes against Sunagakure."

"Two?" I repeated.

"Attacking us and…" Gaara trailed off, looking at his brother for what seemed like permission to finish.

Kankuro sighed heavily, holding me tighter to him. "She also attacked and killed a member of an allied village."

I stared at him for a very long time, listening to her grunts and name-calling. She had killed Seiji to lure us here. She had been waiting the entire time for us to show up. _God._

"What is _wrong_ with you?" I asked her, taking a step closer. My arm fell from Kankuro, but I kept my hand in his. It seemed to be the only warm thing at the moment.

Of course, she didn't answer. She just continued to glower at me. I wasn't quite sure what to say myself. I wanted to kill her right then and there, but I didn't. I had the perfect chance to do it and I was positive Gaara and Kankuro would've allowed it. But something inside me held me back.

"Gaara," I said, "what is Sunagakure's policy on people like her? Murderers, I mean."

"Considering our village is currently lacking somebody in the Kazekage position, it'll go through with the elders and the Hokage will be informed," Gaara answered, staring directly into my eyes. There was something terrifying about the way he watched me, but I knew I wasn't the one who should be terrified. "Because Seiji was a Konohagakure villager, punishment will be left up to whatever Lady Tsunade decides."

That fact sent some sort of happiness through me. Lady Hokage was a fair person, for the most part. She would give Serisu a punishment that best suited the situation.

"What'll we do with her?" Kankuro wondered.

"Aw, c'mon," Serisu cooed. "You're not going to let them treat me like this, are you, baby?"

His hand tightened around mine just enough to keep from hurting me. Pulling me away from her, he kneeled down, releasing my hand, and put his face only inches from hers. The sight pinched my heart and I bit down on my lower lip.

"Well, _baby_," Kankuro hissed, "after cheating on me, almost ruining my reputation, and hurting the person I care about more than I could ever care about you, I hope Lady Hokage strings you up for the birds to eat your disgusting body and I hope you rot in hell."

Both mine and Serisu's mouths fell open. Tears welled up in her eyes and spilled over instantly. It seemed his words had hurt her more than the wounds on her body. Panicked gasps came from her mouth, followed by loud wailing. Sand snaked up the back of her neck and suddenly, she was asleep.

Everything fell into a somber silence. I guess I should've felt happy after finding out Serisu was doomed to some kind of punishment for killing Seiji, but I just didn't feel that way. If someone were to ask me why, I wouldn't have an answer.

()()()

"They didn't move once," Kankuro remarked once we arrived back with Serisu's unconscious body. We placed her next to the puppets, wrapped tightly in a blanket of sand.

Temari and Kyan were in the same exhausted position they had been in when I left to find the brothers: curled up in each other, mouths hanging wide open, and snoring loudly enough to wake up bears. I wondered if we should've woken them up, but part of me decided we'd made the right choice in letting them be.

"You two sleep," Gaara ordered. "You'll need energy if we're going to finish the trip when the sun comes up."

I wanted to sleep, but I knew I was too disturbed to even try. Kankuro's hand was still holding mine with the utmost care and I was dragged over to a trunk of a tree. Only then did I realize his shirt was still on me.

"Are you okay?" he asked me, sitting down and pulling me with him. I shrugged slowly as I tried to ignore how especially heavy my eyelids felt. The night was lingering on forever.

"Y-Yeah," I muttered, hoping he didn't hear the crack in my voice. Gasping, I pulled the shirt over my head and held it to him. "I found it on me, so I just…you know, wore it."

"Keep it. It'll probably get a little colder tonight."

"Aren't you cold?"

A sarcastic smirk graced his face. "Men don't get cold."

I chuckled and shook my head, leaning against the trunk. "So, um," I started awkwardly, "when you were going off on Serisu, did you…um, well…"

"Did I mean what I said?" he finished, as if reading my mind. He stretched his arm out above my head, curling me in closer to his body. I didn't object. He seemed to be giving off more body heat than usual.

We fell into another welcomed silence. I gazed about the dark surroundings, telling that the sun was going to come up soon. Everything was getting lighter and lighter.

The cluster of three people caught my attention. Temari and Kyan had finally fallen out of each other, both now sprawled out on the ground. Gaara sat closest to Kyan, looking down at her restful face curiously. If I didn't any better, I could've sworn I saw a _tiny_ smirk. But then again, that could've been my sleep-deprived mind playing tricks on me.

"Well, did you?" I eventually whispered to Kankuro. His head turned to look down at me. I pulled his shirt to my face, placing my head on his chest.

"I think you already know that answer."

A pair of lips pressed onto my head and a tender, familiar feeling filled my body. I closed my eyes, no longer sensing any sort of coldness on my body.

"Of course I meant it."


	8. A New Home

"_Love all, trust few." - William Shakespeare_

It wasn't long before the wind and sand became an annoying problem as we passed into the Wind Country. If Gaara hadn't been with us, I'm sure the constant dust storms would have driven me completely insane. Luckily for us, his own sand provided a great shield. Also, it carried Serisu in a tight blanket, but we were forced to listen to her insults the entire way.

The heat pounded on us uncomfortably. I often wondered how in humanity Kankuro could be covered in black clothing without complaining while I felt as if I was being baked alive. I didn't even want to think about the sweat that was lingering on top of my skin. The first thing I was going to do when we checked into a hotel was take a three-hour long shower.

Halfway through the second day of traveling, we passed through a large crevice between two walls of hard sand. The inside was lined with Sunagakure Shinobi, their uniforms covering most of their faces, probably to keep the sand from whipping at their eyes and mouths.

At the end of the tunnel, a large man stood before us. He allowed the siblings to pass without any trouble, but when Kyan and I tried to follow them, he stopped us short.

"No entry without identification and purpose," he grumbled to us. Rolling my eyes in frustration, I dug through my backpack, pulling out two cards with our pictures, birthdays, names, and village of origin.

"They're with our party," Gaara told the man. "Its private business."

The man bowed to Gaara. I wasn't sure if it was out of fear or respect, but either way, we were able to pass without anymore nuisances.

Inside the village, there were no violent waves of sand grains or even heavy winds. Every now and then, soft gusts would float by, but the group of buildings was surrounded by the tallest wall of soil I'll ever see in my life, preventing the dangerous ones from sneaking in.

The houses and stores looked like sand-igloos. They reminded me of the domes Kyan and I would make when the snow rarely fell during our childhood years. Decorative paint was strewn across the surfaces of the structures, making each one unique.

"Welcome to Sunagakure," Temari said with a smile. "Pride of the Wind Country and main supplier of all of the sand in the world." Although it was a joke, I was too amazed to laugh.

I honestly expected the village to be a giant sandstorm. If you left your house, you would be swept up by the winds and carried off to oblivion, never to be seen again. But children, adults, and animals alike were out in the streets, laughing and conversing. Except the animals. They weren't laughing or talking. They were just doing animal-things, like peeing on buildings, following their owners, and eating random objects.

"I'll report to the elders about _her_," Gaara muttered, glancing over to Serisu, who he had knocked unconscious a few hours ago.

"All right," Kankuro replied. "We'll take Kyan and Haketa to the house to get their stuff put away."

With a quick nod and a controlled sand whirlwind, Gaara and the crazy were gone. I looked to Kankuro, confused. "Kyan and I need to find the hotel."

"No, you don't," Temari replied. "You really think we're going to let you guys stay in a crappy hotel?"

Kankuro added in with an amused snort, "Hell no, we're not. They haven't found a new Kazekage yet, so the mansion is still ours. We have a few spare rooms, so you'll be staying with us."

I shook my head quickly, looking back and forth between them. "No, guys, really, we can-"

"Mansion!" Kyan yelled, cutting me off. Temari grabbed her arm and pulled her off in a random direction, leaving Kankuro and I behind.

I sighed and watched them tumble through the streets, heading for an extremely large building. Kankuro laughed beside me and swung an arm over my shoulders.

"Come on. Living with us won't be that bad, I promise. You like food? We have food."

()()()

I complained as soon as we got there, saying how I didn't want to intrude or be a burden, but inside, I was screaming with joy. I'd never been inside a house so big and neat.

The living room was three times the size of ours back home. The walls (which were normally wooden-clad on the inside) were decorated with a large banner with the kanji symbol for 'wind' on it, many large windows, and pictures of what I guessed to be family.

There was a hefty bookshelf near a comfortable-looking chair and writing table, filled with different sorts of books, manga, and videos. A couch (longer than two of my beds put together) faced a large television set, complete with electronics we could never afford.

"Is this you?" I asked, pointing to a picture of a small boy, holding up his headband with a bright smile on his face. A man, the man I knew was their father, stood next to him, looking as proud as a parent could be.

"Yeah. That was when I graduated from the academy," Kankuro replied, standing next to me. "This one is Temari. That's our uncle, Yashamaru, next to her."

I studied Kankuro's picture for a few more moments. He had definitely lost weight since his little kid days, and his face had matured out. The adorable smile was still the same, though.

Temari's picture was about the same. She held her headband in her small hands and it looked as if she was crying from excitement. Yashamaru gave a small smirk, not quite looking as proud.

"Where's Gaara's picture?" I questioned, looking up at Kankuro. He frowned a bit in response.

"He took private classes. He was never enrolled in the academy."

A surge of sadness hit me. I felt horrible Gaara, being isolated all his life. It was no wonder he bore so much hatred toward people.

"C'mon, I'll show you the kitchen. And no, that's not a sexist joke, so don't even start," he said quickly, gently pulling on my hand.

I followed him past the cluttered bookshelf and listened that it was part of Gaara's studies. Most of the books were about the rules and regulations of the village, the governmental system, and other important things young people would have no idea about. Gaara was working toward the position of Kazekage.

The kitchen was just as big as the living room, but contained everything ours did: a stove, a refrigerator, counters with normal appliances on it. The only thing was that different about their kitchen was their table, which could seat three families.

"We always have food, so don't worry about eating too much. And if you leave a mess, don't worry about that either. We have a maid," he explained.

The next stop was the bedrooms. He explained that each room had a bathroom connected, so I wouldn't have to worry about sharing with anyone. That was new to me. I've always shared a bathroom with Kyan.

"This is my room," Kankuro said, stopping in front of a door. "It may be a little messy. I don't really remember how I left it. I don't like the maid touching my room."

The door opened a lot more slowly than I wanted it to. When it finally did, I looked upon the dark room. The only window was covered by a black curtain, which he quickly opened.

It was a simple area. A queen-sized bed against the wall stood next to a nightstand with a table lamp placed on it. In a small little room that was connected (it looked as if Kankuro had made this room himself; the wall had been torn out), a desk with puppet parts scrambled on it was placed in a corner. Drawers with different poisons sat next to it.

There weren't many wall decorations. Near the bedroom door, a corkboard hung securely, covered with pieces of paper. I looked over them quickly. Reminders of appointments, phone numbers, and one picture of a woman who looked exactly like Yashamaru.

She held a baby boy in her arms, while a little girl sat in her lap. I stared at it for a long time, knowing exactly who they were. Kankuro and Temari with their mother, who looked as if she was anymore happier to have them, she would explode into rainbows.

"Temari looks like her. I look more like our father," Kankuro explained from behind me. I was sure if I leaned back even a centimeter, I would be touching him.

"You look exactly like him."

"I guess that's why everyone is expecting me to step up and be the Kazekage."

I turned around to find I was right; he was as close as he could be without touching me. "They are?" I asked, tilting my head back to look at his face. He didn't look at me. He just kept staring at the picture.

"Yeah. I've lost count of how many times I've been asked when I'll be placed in the position. I keep telling them I don't know because I don't want to disappoint them by saying I have no interest in it."

"Why not?"

He shrugged slightly. "I just don't. I'd rather fight to protect something I love than being the one pulling all the strings." With a quick huff, he looked down at me and flashed a smile. "Want me to show you your room now?"

My reply was only a nod.

I had the choice of two rooms. One was directly across the hallway from Kankuro's room and the other was on the floor above. I chose the second, not wanting anyone to think there was something more between Kankuro and I. More importantly, I didn't want myself to think that.

My room was to the left of Temari's and when the door opened, I couldn't held but break into the most ridiculous smile I could ever muster.

"Do you like it?" Kankuro asked, holding the door open for me as I dragged my feet inside.

My eyes gazed over the large day-window, complete with pillows decorated with the symbol on the Sunagakure headbands. The view was amazing; just from standing in the middle of the room, I could see hundreds of sand rooftops and the gap we had entered the village through.

Another queen-sized bed was pushed against the corner. I ran my hand across the blankets and various shapes and sizes of pillows. I'd never felt something so soft.

A study desk sat against the opposite wall, a few feet away from the bathroom door. Small cabinets lined the sides and I was soon told they were still empty.

"These rooms were usually used for our father's party guests who were too drunk to remember where they lived. The maid keeps them especially clean, so if you don't want her coming in here anymore, just let me know," Kankuro told me, checking the dresser to be sure it was empty.

"Oh, okay," I muttered, sitting on the bed. My butt was officially in heaven at that point.

As I fell back onto the bed, he chuckled and told me if I needed anything, I knew where to find him before leaving me to my new room.

Maybe this wouldn't be so horrible after all.


	9. Comic Relief

__Hi guys! Just wanted to let all my readers know how much I appreciate you! To those of you who have been reading since the first day of Trust, I certainly thank you bunches for holding on with me through this ride!

Please continue to enjoy!

* * *

><p><em>"I never trusted good-looking boys." - Frances McDormand<em>

After lying in bed for about four hours, trying to get warm, I sat up and wrapped the blankets even tighter around my body. Why in the _world_ was the house so cold at night?

I stood, placing my bare feet on the freezing floor, and glanced outside. There was no snow calling from the dark sky, or heavy winds whipping the flags about. Everything was still and quiet.

Pulling the blanket even tighter to me, I left my room and entered the dark hallway. I searched for about five minutes for Kankuro's room, finally finding it by the small hole in the wall I'd noticed earlier. It looked as if someone had kicked it.

"Kankuro?" I whispered, tapping quietly on his door. "Wake up, please?"

I pressed my ear to the door. There was some rustling then eventually slow footsteps. The door opened and a pair of two sleepy eyes rested on me, followed by an amused smirk.

"You look like a bug," Kankuro told me. I would've come back at him with some other kind of insult, but then I realized his clothing.

Sweats and a heavy sweatshirt. The exact opposite of my tank top and shorts.

"I'm cold," I muttered through the part of the blanket that covered my mouth. "Is the heater broken or something?"

"Heater?" he repeated, arching a brow. "None of the houses in Suna have heaters. This is the desert, in case you've already forgotten."

I narrowed my eyes at him, mentally telling him to shut up. With an exhausted sigh, he pushed his door open the rest of the way, allowing me in. His room was just as cold as mine was.

I sat on his bed, watching him move to a closet and pull out a heavy blanket. Before closing the door, he turned back to me and asked, "What are you wearing?"

Feeling extremely awkward at the question, I unwrapped myself from my blanket home, showing what little clothing I was wearing. He frowned and shook his head, turning back to the closet. Suddenly, a pair of sweatpants, a shirt, and a sweatshirt was thrown into my lap.

"Temperatures drop to below freezing here during the night," he explained, tossing the blanket onto his bed. "Please tell me you brought heavier clothing with you."

"Um, I didn't," I replied, slipping his clothes over mine. They were huge on me, but I instantly began to feel warmer.

He closed his closet and grabbed the blanket, wrapping it tightly around me. "We'll go shopping tomorrow," he said, then glanced at his clock. "Today, I mean. Anyway, sleep in here. My room is usually the warmest in the house."

Warm sounded fantastic, so as much as I wanted to argue with him, I didn't. I only curled up on his bed, nuzzling my face into his inviting pillow. The bed caved in next to me, so I did my best to scoot over to make room for him.

Within thirty minutes, Kankuro was asleep again, his arm draped over my waist and his breath soft in my ear. I felt his slow heartbeat on my back, even through all the padding of blanket and clothes. Every now and then, a random body part would twitch or his breathing pattern would change.

I nibbled on the inside of my cheek, thinking how odd yet right this felt. Surprisingly enough to me, I didn't have the urge to move away from him or sneak back into my own room. I just wanted to stay there, as close as possible, and fall asleep with my breathing in rhythm with his.

It took another hour for that to finally happen.

()()()

I woke up groggy and alone the next morning. I rolled over to an empty spot next to me. Sitting up, I realized my blanket cocoon was half way off my body, like I must've gotten too hot at one point during the night.

I looked outside the window, seeing the sun beginning to peek up from over the sand walls. The clock read 6:37, which was way too early for me to be awake.

As I left Kankuro's room, leaving the blanket behind, I made my way toward the kitchen. I stopped walking when I noticed a bundle of blankets on the couch, a foot sticking out from under them. I quietly searched the cabinets for glassware and filled a cup with water.

When I walked back through the living room, the pile of blankets shifted. They sat up and I noticed who it was right away, even from the extreme case of bed-head.

"Kyan?" I asked. "Why are you on the couch?"

Her sleepy black eyes met mine, an almost exact mirrored view, and a silent yawn came from her wide O-shaped mouth. "I g-got lost last night," she told me, looking up at a clock on the wall. "I couldn't find m-my way back to my room, so I st-stayed here."

We both jumped when the door open and two men walked in. One we knew very well, the other was a stranger, but they both smelled of sweat.

"Oh, hey guys," Kankuro muttered, panting softly.

I glanced toward the unknown person. He looked to be about Kankuro's age, if not a few years older. His face was matured, set with deep blue eyes and lightly fuzzed with brown hair on his chin. He had broad shoulders, a wide chest, and stood at an equal height with Kankuro. Light brown hair stuck to his neck with sweat.

"Hey," I finally replied to Kankuro, who turned toward the other.

"This is Kasaji. Kasaji, this is Haketa and Kyan, our new roommates," he introduced.

Kyan rushed to her feet and bowed to Kasaji the same time I did. "Its nice to meet you," we told him in unison. In respect, he did the same to us.

"Are you guys hungry?" Kankuro asked, heading toward the kitchen.

"Not really," I replied, also answering for my sister, who plopped her tired self back onto the couch. I followed the two men into the kitchen and took a seat next to Kasaji at the table. "Did you guys just come back from running a marathon or what?"

"Yep," Kasaji answered, even though I meant it as a joke. "There's a trail that goes along the outside of the village. Its probably more miles than I can count, but we just jog the four mile mark, don't we, Kuro?"

Turning around from the open fridge, Kankuro delivered an almost painful death glare. "You know not to call me that, but yes, every other day."

I rested my cheek on my palm, somewhat hiding my smirk. From what I could tell between the two, they were close friends. Not quite best friends, but almost there.

The fridge door closed and Kankuro walked past, slapping Kasaji on the back. "Find your own self something to eat. I'm going to shower," he ordered him, and then gave me a soft smile.

Once he was gone, Kasaji stood and began searching through the cabinets. I watched him open doors, stand for three seconds, close them, and then repeat at a different part of the kitchen. Each time he moved, he let out a loud sigh of frustration.

"You're Haketa, right?" he finally asked without looking at me.

"Yeah."

"Kankuro's ex?"

"Um, yeah. Why?" I shuffled my feet on the floor uncomfortably. I didn't exactly like being questioned by someone I didn't know, especially when something so personal was brought up.

Finally, he took a seat in front of me, peeling an orange. "I'm just wondering how he ended up back with Serisu after you."

"It's a long story," I muttered, glancing away to avoid his awkward stare. I focused on a small cactus on the counter.

"If it involves the attack on Konoha, don't bother talking about that part. I was involved in that. Not on your side, of course," he explained, shoving a piece into his mouth. "Is that why you dumped him?"

My left leg began bouncing nervously. It was almost as if he was trying to make me upset by telling me he aided in the attack. "There never really was a 'dumping' part of our relationship. We just split after the fight. Hasn't Kankuro told you about this?"

Kasaji shook his head and took his time chewing on a juicy piece. "Nope. He refuses to talk about it with anyone. Its not healthy, in my opinion. But he'll talk about you for hours."

My cheeks instantly began to feel warmer. "What does he say about me?"

My question seemed to spark his interest. His eyes lit up and he inclined himself closer to me. I could really smell the sweat on his body now. "Why don't we play a little info exchange game? You tell me about the whole break up, and I'll tell you what he says about you."

"Why do you want to know so badly?"

"Who knows? Maybe I'm just that level of intense nosy?"

My mouth formed into a hard line until I blurted everything out. I told him all about Kankuro's stay in my village, how close we became during that short time, and about why we ended up parting ways. I even threw in details in hopes I would learn more from him.

"That's it?" Kasaji asked when I was done. My only reply was a quick head nod. He sighed and leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling. "What does he say about you, hm? I guess the better question is what _doesn't_ he say about you? You're prettier than Serisu. He and I established that after I saw a picture of you."

"A picture of me?"

"He wanted to show me, so we looked up the Shinobi registry in the Kazekage office. You'd be surprised at how many Shinobi there are in this world. Anyway, he told me you have soft hands. Maybe I'll get to experience them?" With that, he sent an awkward wink my way.

I entwined my fingers with each other under the table and gave him a fake smile. "Um, no. Sorry."

He sighed in a defeated manner and straightened his back. "Fine. Well, continuing with our conversation. He told me he really did love you, but the way things worked out with the attack ruined everything. While we were out this morning, he seemed to be in a much better mood than he norma-"

"Kasaji, what are you whispering about?" Kankuro's voice demanded from behind.

Kasaji and I both turned to look at him in a panic. Kankuro's eyes, almost covered with his damp hair, locked with his friend's in an imaginary "boys-only" battle as he leaned against the doorframe. I looked between the two, not entirely sure where I stood in the situation.

"Just talking about how Haketa keeps her hands so soft," Kasaji finally replied with a sly look about him.

"Get out."

Kasaji stood and raised his hands up. "Oh, I'll go. But I'll be back later today."

"Don't."

"I will be."

"Just go."

With a dramatic whisk of his body, Kasaji was gone from the house. Kankuro shook his head and looked toward me, an almost embarrassed look in his face.

"Sorry about him," he muttered, looking toward the door. "He's that friend I keep around for comic relief. He says stupid things and flirts with everything that moves."

I grimaced, suddenly missing Naruto.

"Anyway," Kankuro continued, "why don't you go get ready and I'll take you to get some appropriate clothes?"

I stood up from the chair and nodded, hurrying past him. I noticed the fresh-shower scent about him, taking in as much as I could before I was too far away.

As I searched through my own clothes that I had brought and readied myself for a shower, Kasaji's words repeated many times in my head. I tried thinking about something else, but they pulled at me until I finally accepted that I was okay with hearing them.

"_He really did love you. He really did love you. He really did love you."_

"And I really did love you, too…


	10. Bracelets

"_Once you have learned to love, you have learned to live." - Anonymous_

In the far east side of Sunagakure, a large, crowded market was built twenty years before I had been born. At first, it had started out as just one stand, selling pathetically dried-out fish delivered from Kirigakure. Unfortunately, by the time the fish had arrived, the desert air had shriveled them down to nothing.

Villagers eventually found this small stand and decided the seemingly forgotten area of their village was the perfect place to make money of their own. New stands were built with new varieties of items. People from all over the world would came (with permission of the guards, of course) to sell their belongings and buy Suna exclusive items, which included certain fruits, decorative rugs, handmade clothes, and other things that would easily peak someone's interest.

I pressed myself as close to Kankuro as possible, trying to stay out of the way of determined shoppers who felt no remorse about pushing people of all ages out of the way to get to their desired piece of clothing or perfectly crafted painting. He kept a strong arm around my shoulders, leading me in front of himself.

"The crowd will die down in an hour or so," he reassured me. "Its still early, so everyone is trying to be the first ones here."

I jumped at the sudden pressure on my leg. Glancing down, I saw that a small child, probably not a day older than four, had wrapped her arms around my leg. Her soft brown hair seemed to be in a mess as she tilted her head back to look up at me.

Cerulean eyes bored deep into mine with a childish flicker that seemed to be everlasting. Her tanned skin had been even more darkened by dust.

"Oh, sorry, lady!" she chirped, releasing me from her grip. "I'm going to find Mommy now!"

Just as fast as she came, she disappeared through the crowd of people in front of us.

"Do little kids normally just roam around unattended?" I inquired, peering back at Kankuro's amused smirk. "Hey, what're you smiling about?"

"Oh, nothing," he lied, gently pressing on my back. "Keep going or all the good stuff will be gone."

We searched through stand after stand, fishing our way through piles of clothes and miscellaneous items. Many times, I was pushed out of the way from the shirt or skirt I had my eye on by women twice my size, both in height and width. At those times, an arm would reach around me, over their heads, and swiftly steal away the treasured object.

"I believe this is yours," Kankuro said with a boastful smile, handing it toward me.

"Thank you," I breathed, holding it close to me in fear of it being snatched by the glaring ladies.

"Anytime."

We found ourselves at an almost empty stand. It sold no clothes or house decorations or children's toys. It sold jewelry, but not the sumptuous kind.

"They were made by children of the village," the woman in the back explained. She wore a tanned turban, which was strange in this type of weather. The wind wasn't lashing about and the heat was beating down pretty painfully.

"I remember making these at the academy," Kankuro muttered, taking a small purple and turquoise stone bracelet around his fingers. "It was usually when lesson plans fell through and we had free time. They're supposed to grant wishes or something like that if you whisper it into the stones before putting it on. As long as you wear it, the gods put out their energy to make your wish come true and when it finally does, you pass it along to someone else."

The woman eyed him curiously. I couldn't see her smile, but the crinkles on her skin around her eyes gave it away. "Kankuro, boy, you've grown into a fine man. Much different than when Karura paraded you around the village only a few days after you were born."

They fell into a conversation of just how she knew him. Apparently, she had sold items to Karura many times and always cooed over his baby self when the proud mother brought him along.

I continued to look over the crafted jewelry, taking note of the unique shapes of the stones that had been laced together with some sort of thin, tight rope. I ran my fingers along the different shapes and colors of magenta, crimson, sapphire, until a certain one caught my attention.

It wasn't an extravagant one, not in the least. Russet-colored rocks were joined together, small strokes of green lashed about on both the surface and the rope. The rocks weren't all the same shape. Each one was different. One even looked somewhat like a face to me.

"Find one you like?" a voice asked in my ear, making me jump around as quickly as possible. Kankuro peered around me, squinting at the bracelet. "That crappy little thing?"

"It isn't crappy!" I defended, whipping myself back around to scoop it into my palm. "I like it better than all the others."

He raised an eyebrow at me. "Well, _you_ have horrible taste in these."

"Haketa! Kuro!"

We both turned to find Kasaji, Kyan, and Temari waving to us from over the crowd. I smiled, gripped my newly-bought belongings closer, and dove into the mass of people. When I finally found my way through, I tripped over my own feet, sending my head face-first into Kasaji's chest. He smelled like he'd just gotten out of the shower.

"Whoa there, sugarlips!" he teased, wrapping a strong arm around me. "I know I'm drop-dead handsome and all, but Kuro's your man, remember? Besides, I think Temmy here would get a bit jealous, wouldn't you, honeytits?" He smirked and winked in her direction.

"_What did you just say_?" Temari hissed, balling her hands into fists.

"Protect the precious cargo!" Kasaji yelled, throwing my body into Kyan, who clumsily caught me.

We watched the two wrestle a bit violently (Temari seemed to be the victor), until Kyan turned to me and asked, "Wh-Where's Kankuro?"

Kankuro! I'd forgotten about him amongst all the yelling, insults, and loud apologies.

I turned back around toward the jewelry stand. Standing on my tippy-toes, I gazed over the heads of the villagers, trying my hardest to spot the mess of brown hair. He had to be around somewhere.

"He probably got distracted and wandered off," Kasaji said from behind me, holding his shirt to his bleeding nose. "Poor guy has the attention span of a dead bird."

"Put your damn shirt back on," Temari growled, giving him the death glare she was most famous for.

"Oh, don't worry, my little bee," he cooed. "I'll be sure to turn all these wonderful ladies down when they rush me."

"Ugh!" she groaned, throwing her hands up in defeat. "I wish you'd never latched onto us. Kyan and I were doing just fine before you came along! Haketa, we're going back to the house. I think I've had about enough of this place as I can take. Are you coming?"

I shook my head, glancing back toward where I'd last saw Kankuro. "No, I'll come back later. I'm going to keep looking for him."

Kyan's delicate fingers laced around the bags I was carrying and she smiled hopefully at me. "I'll t-take these for you."

I thanked her and watched them walk off through the mob. Kasaji kept trying to snake an arm around Temari's waist, but every time he attempted, she'd slap him upside his head. That didn't stop him, though.

As I ventured longer and longer, more people seemed to crowd the streets. Scents of different foods filled my nostrils, some amazing and some not so amazing. Everything around me became louder and I began to feel very uncomfortable.

"Kankuro!" I called out, knowing he couldn't hear me over everyone else. I didn't give up, though. I kept calling his name.

My legs suddenly felt heavy. I slowed down and leaned against a wall of a high building, trying to regain the breath that had just been knocked out of me.

It was the way I shouted his name: frantic, terrified, alone. The tone of my own voice brought back the painful memories of waking up in the middle of the night in alarmed states of mind, thinking I had to find him, then realizing what had happened and that he was gone.

I covered my mouth with my hand, trying to force the feeling of nausea back down, and curled in on myself. Why was it hitting me so hard now? I thought those terrible emotions had been pushed away forever.

I gasped and pulled my hand away when something wet and warm splashed against my skin. Tears. Couldn't all this just stop once and for all?

I brought my hands up to my face, hiding my red cheeks and watered eyes from the rest of the world. I didn't care who saw me, or what they thought. Just as long as I couldn't see them, then maybe they wouldn't pay any attention to me.

My hands were abruptly yanked from my face and I was pulled into a very tight embrace. I inhaled deeply, closing my eyes shut, knowing exactly who it was.

"Haketa, let's go home."

I didn't let go of Kankuro for a second the whole way back to the house. My hand became extremely warm in his, but nothing had ever felt so complete. The tears didn't stop, though, and I wasn't sure why.

The new bracelet he sported on his wrist sparked my interest. A cute little brown one with green lines.

Apparently, it wasn't_ too _crappy for him.


	11. Homesick

_"A man reserves his true and deepest love not for the species of woman in whose company he finds himself electrified and enkindled, but for that one in whose company he may feel tenderly drowsy." - Thomas Moore_

Sunagakure falls through periods of random rainstorms which, according to Temari, happen only once every five years or so. And when they do happen, it really comes down.

"D-Darn," Kyan muttered, staring out the rain-splattered window. "It had to r-rain on the day we set to go look at the b-building for the restaurant."

I stood not far behind her, watching with only a small amount of amusement as adults and children (who seemed to be having more fun in the weather) ran to the shelter of their homes. The sky, although it was a little after noon, was darkened to the point of giving a sense of midnight. Evanescent streaks of lightening randomly lit up the sky.

"We can always go tomorrow, if it isn't raining," I suggested. It probably would still be raining, though. It had been ever since the day I had my emotional fit. That was two days ago.

"Hopefully," my sister replied, grabbing one of Gaara's study books and plopping herself down in his chair.

I took my own seat on the couch, wrapping my body up in the heavy blanket I'd rummaged out of Kankuro's closet, trying to beat the cold air that filled the house ever since the power had been knocked out. My eyes began to droop slowly as I thought back to what I remembered from the day I lost control of myself.

Kankuro had taken me back to the house and ignored Temari, Kyan, and Kasaji, who all stared at my crying mess, as he led me to his bedroom. I'd been unable to stop the tears the entire time.

I was seated on the bed and he'd disappeared for only a few seconds. Before I could realize it, a wad of tissue was placed against my nose. It wasn't until then that I realized my nose had started bleeding profusely, but luckily none had gotten on my clothes or his bed.

He didn't say anything at all. Once my nose had finally stopped bleeding and I'd calmed down enough to quit crying, we laid in bed for hours, my head on his chest and his fingers smoothing through my hair.

I don't remember what went through my head during that moment, but it had sent my stomach into fits of spasms. I wanted to burst out in laughter, but it seemed inappropriate at a time like this.

I don't think I even could have laughed if I tried, though. My body had been too relaxed to the point of paralysis.

A quick rapping at the door had made Kankuro's body jolt. I hadn't realized his hand had stopped on the back of my head and he had dozed off hours before.

"What?" he'd called in annoyance.

"New mission stats," Temari replied through the door. "Let's go!"

That's when the rain had started.

I yawned, rolling over on the couch to glance at my sister. Kyan was curled up in the chair, the book lying open on her chest. I must've fallen asleep for a bit.

I unraveled myself from the blanket and glanced out the window. Still raining. Of course. There was no way it would stop before tomorrow, and we'd be stuck inside for another day with nothing to do.

Sighing, I dragged a chair to the window, sitting down to stare out at the dark clouds. Without the siblings, the house felt especially huge and lonely, even though Kyan was there with me. Even Kasaji wouldn't brave the rain (probably because it would mess up his hair) to come visit.

My mind wandered to my mother back home. How was she holding up without Kyan and me? I missed her terribly and if it weren't raining so hard, I would've sent a messenger pigeon to her with letters from her daughters. But as it was now, there was no way I could do that to a poor bird. They weren't as sturdy as Courier Nin.

I raised a fist to my mouth, covering a long yawn. There was nothing going on inside the house and nothing going on outside the house, except the flood falling from the sky.

I finally allowed myself to admit I missed Kankuro. Being away from him felt so wrong after being reunited after six months. My mouth formed into a frown at the odd feeling of a knot in my stomach.

"I miss you…"

()()()

"This is so fucking ridiculous," Kankuro hissed under his breath for possibly the thirtieth time that day, bouncing his leg nervously under the table.

"Stop it, Kankuro," Temari scolded, leaning forward to glare at the puppeteer from around her youngest brother, who unhappily sat in the middle of the two. "You need to at least act like you want to be here."

"But I don't!"

"I said _act._"

The mission was extremely ridiculous. That was something the three of them instantly agreed on upon arriving. However, Kankuro was the only one voicing the shared opinion.

Meeting the man who would possibly sign over the building for the Chikaku family business at a tea house ten miles away from Sunagakure wasn't exactly what they had in mind of an important mission. But as the children of the late Kazekage, they were the only ones who were really qualified for it. Besides, they were also doing it for friends.

This was the _only_ reason why Kankuro decided to stick it out.

"It'd be nice if the guy had enough common courtesy to show up on time," he muttered, propping his elbow up on the table surface. "Ridiculous."

"Like you're one to talk about common courtesy. And will you stop saying that word?"

"Temari, you're being _ridiculous._"

A forfeiting sigh came from the other side of Gaara and Kankuro knew he'd won. It was a bittersweet feeling. Temari would now finally shut up, but he was still stuck here for who knows how much longer.

As if the three hour trek wasn't enough, having to stay in a rundown hotel, being kept awake by the loud splatters of rain, and now waiting for the stupid building owner was the straw the broke the camel's back. Where was the guy anyway?

Kankuro's bored eyes scanned the people relaxing in the tea house. Off in the far corner, a man surrounded by three nearly naked ladies greedily sipped his drink, telling things that weren't all that funny, but the girls laughed anyway. It was the fake, high-pitched laugh that almost sounded sarcastic.

At a lone table, a girl who looked a few years older than him sat by herself, looking downcast as she peered into her cup. Two black braids sat against her back, the color sending a chill of homesickness though his body. When the black eyes flashed up from the liquid to meet his, he hurriedly glanced away.

She was an attractive girl, no doubt. And if something wasn't restricting him, Kankuro would've made his way over there and thought of small talk to get her going. Maybe some idiotic joke or a question that could lead into a full-blown conversation. But he just felt no desire to do such a thing.

His eyes fell on the terribly ugly bracelet around his wrist. With his free hand, he petted over the beads, finally admitting to himself the one thing he'd been forcing away the whole trip away from home.

"I miss you…

* * *

><p><strong>Hey, everyone! Just wanted to take a quick second to thank everyone who has been reading since day one. :) It really means a lot to me.<strong>

**Anyway, I hope you all continue to enjoy the story! **


	12. No Words

_"There is no love lost between us." - Miguel de Cervantes_

"Do you see them?" I asked for the tenth time in the past hour, peering over Kyan's shoulder as we stood on the roof, taking turns staring through a pair of binoculars at the village gates.

The rain had finally stopped and everyone seemed to be thankful that it only lasted for five days. Most of the village's streets turned to mud, making messes in houses and other buildings. Luckily, the sun had come back out and was shining as brightly as usual, forcing heat down on all of us.

"I d-don't think so," she whispered, trying to steady her hands. During the time the siblings were gone, she had spent hours in Gaara's study chair, flipping through his books and memorizing important details. The process of the Sunagakure government truly interested her.

I frowned impatiently. We'd been waiting and watching for a total of three hours. We had already gone to check out the building for the restaurant. It was medium-sized, a bit smaller than the one back home, and would definitely need some patching-up done. But other than a few problems, it was perfect.

"Oh, wait!" Kyan suddenly gasped. "I-I see Gaara's hair!"

I yanked the binoculars from her hands and gazed into them, squinting my eyes. She was right; they were back!

We didn't waste any time running back into the house and forcing our feet quickly into our shoes. Within three seconds, we were out the door and running through the streets.

Unfortunately, the streets were just as crowded as they had been before the rainstorm. We avoided as many people as we could, but the ones we did accidentally run into, we shouted a quick, "Excuse me!" before continuing on.

After about five minutes of dodging buildings and people while sprinting as fast as possible, the siblings came into view. Temari, who was the first to see us, beamed and waved her hand high over her head. She wasn't my aim, though.

I hurled myself at Kankuro, wrapping my arms tightly around his neck, somewhat throwing him off guard. He staggered a bit, but quickly regained his composure to wrap his own arms around me, pressing me tight against his body.

We both exhaled slowly at the same exact time and whispered, "I missed you…"

()()()

The rest of the day flew by in a rush. Kyan and I were seated down at the table by the siblings. Gaara sat at the head while I sat next to Kankuro and Kyan sat next to Temari opposite of us.

"This is the lease to the building," Gaara explained, pushing an important-looking document my direction. I glanced over it, feeling my face scrunch up in confusion. "It basically says your family owns the building for two years. At the end of those two years, you need to apply for another lease. If there is considerable damage to the building, you pay the owner compensation in addition to the monthly payments."

"Sounds like a lot," I muttered, fumbling nervously with my own fingers under the table.

"Just don't allow any damage to the building and the payments won't increase," Gaara suggested. "You pay ten percent of your earnings at the end of each month and that's it."

"Its n-not so bad," Kyan added. "As l-long as people keep c-c-coming to eat."

"All that's really left," Temari said, "is decorating the place and hiring people. There are tons of unemployed people in Suna, so you won't have any trouble finding willing workers."

I chewed on the inside of my cheek. This whole thing was extremely nerve-wracking to me. I wasn't comfortable with any of this, but it was better for the business and for Konohagakure, the origin of the food chain. But knowing I was basically in charge of this whole operation, of hiring and firing, and of running this branch made my stomach curl into tight knots.

My body jumped slightly when a hand was placed on mine under the table. I glanced up at Kankuro, who was peering down at me from the corner of his eyes. Slowly, I curled my fingers between his.

"Are you okay, Haketa?" Temari asked, picking up on the obvious panic on my face.

I forced a smile and nodded. "Its all just a little…overwhelming, I guess. I've never had to deal with this sort of thing before."

"Well, its not like you have to do this alone. We can help you with interviews and budgets. Kankuro is actually pretty good with counting currency. That's about the only thing he can do right," she teased, trying to lighten the mood. Kankuro only glared at her, though, before turning to me.

"You'll be fine."

More than anything, I hoped he would be right.

()()()

I wanted everything to slow down so I could step back and actually think my next actions through. But that wasn't happening.

The very next day, maintenance men were hired to make the building presentable again. As they worked on the inside, I sat back on a chair and watched them rebuild, paint, and decorate. Windows were washed, glass tables were polished, and the floors were swept. The back kitchen was sanitized repeatedly until the entire place smelled like ammonia.

The employee interviews were held at the Kazekage's office. I wasn't alone with this part, though. The two brothers accompanied me. Luckily, I sat between them to receive input from both sides.

It was a long and tiring process. Many different kinds of people came in and were asked the same questions. Prior work experience, criminal records, personality quirks, etc. While Kankuro and I kept the nervous possible workers busy with interrogations, Gaara silently wrote down his observations on a piece of paper.

At the end of the day, I was left alone in my room with pictures of people I hardly knew much about spread about on my floor and bed. I sat in the middle of the chaos, feeling a migraine coming on quickly.

"Haketa?" a muffled voice called through the door, followed by two quick knocks.

I sighed and glanced around, not really feeling up to hopping over pictures to answer the door. "Come in," I replied. "Its unlocked."

Kankuro entered, a cup of steaming tea in his hand. He smiled softly at me, which I hurriedly returned.

"Thought you'd like something to drink," he said, swiftly moving to my nightstand table to place the cup down.

"Thanks," I whispered, turning back to the pictures.

Since the siblings returned from their mission, I hardly saw much of him, aside from the interviews. Even though only a day had passed since then, it felt like weeks.

"Have you decided on anyone yet?" he asked, his eyes dancing from face to face. I reached under my leg and pulled out a single picture.

Her name was Azai, a 17-year-old single mother with huge blue eyes and choppy blonde hair. She had come into the interview and was asked about her family. Her answer was that her parents had disowned her after finding out about her pregnancy, and the father of the child had been killed on a mission. That's when my decision had been made.

"Just one?" Kankuro muttered.

"Yeah. Its just so hard, you know, finding the right people for this. I don't want to hire someone who will intentionally mess it up for my family."

"You're stressing out way too much over this." He began gathering all the pictures from my bed, bundling them into one pile and setting them next to the cup of tea. "You have a whole week to figure this out. Slow down."

"I can't," I replied, stretching my legs out in front of me, thanks to all the room I had now. "This is really important to more people than just me."

He laid back on the bed, folding his arms behind his head. "Just relax," he told me.

Eventually, I decided he was right. Everything with the exception of hiring was ready to go, and I had a whole week to get that going. Taking just one night off from working and thinking wouldn't be so bad.

I crawled closer to him, lying on my stomach near him. He grinned down at me before reaching over to move a stray flock of hair from my eyesight.

"You look so tired," he informed me with a soft chuckle.

"Oh, _thanks_ for the compliment," I mumbled, rolling my eyes and propping my chin up with my palms. "This is all just really stressful."

"I know. But Temari even said you're not alone with all this crap."

I sighed and collapsed my head onto his chest, focusing solely on his heartbeat. For just that moment, everything melted away - all the stress of the restaurant, the paperwork, the future employees. I forgot about it all.

All that mattered, at that exact moment, was Kankuro.

I inhaled deeply, taking in the scent that I remember falling into all those months ago, and that I was falling into again. I thought about those nights of coming home, smelling exactly like him, and falling asleep pretending he was still next to me.

What was wrong with me? I made a promise to myself, once I'd gotten over the heartbreak (or so I thought I did), to never feel this way about him again, given the chance.

But Kankuro had changed in that six months we spent apart. There was more maturity and confidence in the way he carried himself, and he seemed to think before acting most of the time instead of acting on impulse. If I said he was a completely different person, I'd be a liar.

He was still immature at times; tugging at my hair whenever it was pulled back, making faces at me from across rooms, and constantly arguing with Temari. He still spaced out at random moments and he still shut himself in his room for hours to work on his puppets. I knew not to disturb him when he was in "work mode."

"What are you thinking about?" Kankuro suddenly asked, yanking me away from my thoughts.

"Nothing."

"You've been staring at the wall for ten minutes straight. There's no way you're thinking about nothing."

"I'm just tired, like you said."

"Want me to leave so you sleep?"

"No!" I answered too quickly. My head shot up from his chest to look him in the eyes, which gave me an odd stare.

"Haketa, are you okay?" he asked. I opened my mouth to answer, but I knew if I told him I was okay, it would be a lie. I wasn't really sure how I was. Too many things were running through my head.

"I…" There really were no words I could say to him.

My gaze traced all the features of his face. His jaw line, the way his brows knitted together in the sense of concern, and then finally, his lips, which slightly curved downwards. I swallowed, my heart beating heavy in my chest, and leaned toward him.

There were no words that could be spoken between our lips touching.


	13. Grand Opening

_"Love is a state in which a man sees things most decidedly as they are not." - Friedrich Nietzsche_

The very next week, the restaurant was up and running. With the help of the brothers, I'd finally gotten through the horrible process of hiring five employees.

One, the teenage mother, Azai, who broke into tears when we told her we would be going along with her hiring. She thanked us multiple times and gave me the tightest hug I'd ever receive from a girl.

Two, a 32-year-old man named Hantazi Ryuinn, a father to three girls and a husband to a women who had lost her left arm in an accident he had no business speaking of. He had a history of chef experience - longer than I'd been alive. He was a round man, with a short neck and stubby fingers, a missing front tooth, and a chunk of his ear torn out, but his sparkling green eyes gave off a sense of happiness that nobody could take away from him.

Three, a 25-year-old man, Miisa Yano. I personally had somewhat of a problem with his high level of self-confidence. The way he waltzed into the room like he owned the place, propped his feet on the desk, and threw a wink my way bothered me to no end. But he was incredibly attractive, though a little on the short side, which Kankuro said would attract female customers.

Four, a very timid girl named Kono Keisuke. She was only a year older than me, but by the way she acted, she seemed much younger. Her auburn hair covered one of her dazzling green eyes, and no matter how many times she tried to push it behind her ears, it always fell back into place a few seconds later. Even in her interview, she seemed terrified and awkward, so we hired her as the dishwasher.

And finally, our fifth member of the team: Kasaji.

Opening day, the seven of us, including Kyan, sat around waiting for seven in the morning when we could open the doors. My heart pounded heavily in my chest.

I knew it wouldn't be as easy as working in the restaurant back home. These people, with the exception of Kyan, were not my family, whom I'd known all my life. They were completely new people, each with agendas of their own. We were in an entirely new village. I prayed endlessly that Kyan wouldn't get lost on her way to take deliveries.

And the hardest part of all: I was the boss. More than anything, this fact made me miss my mother and grandfather.

"Here we go!" Yano exclaimed right at seven, pushing the doors open himself. Already, there was a large group of people who had obviously taken notice to the majestic banner hung on the building that read "GRAND OPENING!"

Everything that happened from that moment on fell into a blur. I seated the group to our largest table and delivered menus. Kyan and Azai danced their way around chairs, filling water glasses and taking drink orders. I helped them out by running back and forth from the kitchen to the table to drop off drinks and make small talk.

I was complimented many times about my age. "You're very brave to be running a restaurant all on your own at your age," was a popular comment. I wanted to tell them so badly that I wasn't brave at all, that I was terrified beyond belief, but I couldn't say that. So I just smiled and thanked them before running off.

Before any of us knew it, it was already noon. Many people had come and gone, leaving most of us exhausted. The only one who seemed to be having fun with all the work was Ryuinn, who sang loudly (and a bit off-key) in hopes to keep everyone in high spirits.

The chime of the door opening sent my heart into a flutter. More people to seat and cater to, no doubt. But as I looked around the corner from the cash register, my eyes locked with Kankuro, who waved at me.

I hurried to him and wrapped my arms around his neck in a tight hug, which he happily returned.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, somewhat out of breath. "I thought you were going to be helping Gaara with the Kazekage stuff all day."

"We got done early," he replied, kissing my forehead softly. "Looks like you're busy. Need help?"

I exhaled into his chest, closing my eyes tightly. Even in the middle of all the chaos, all the clinking of glasses and silverware, all the orders being shouted from the back, I was thankful that even just for a small moment, I was able to find peace thanks to the person standing in front of me.

"I think we'll be fine," I lied, opening my eyes to look up at him.

Kankuro's eyes strayed over my head to watch all the people. I turned to see exactly what he was looking at. Yano was flirting with a table of females, Kasaji was entertaining a married couple by making faces at their baby to cause loud high-pitched laughter, and Azai let out a loud squeak at a man who had pinched her butt.

"Okay, maybe a little help would be nice," I admitted with a defeated sigh.

()()()

At the end of the day, which was around seven, all I could look forward to was shedding my sweat-drenched clothing and cuddling myself in a tub full of hot water. After congratulating all my employees on a great first day and parting ways, I rushed back to the house, nearly stripping myself on the way.

About fifteen minutes into my water haven, a quick knock came at the bathroom door. I sank down further into the bubble-filled liquid.

"Occupied!" I called out, wondering why in the world someone needed to use _my_ bathroom.

Instead of walking away like the person should've done, the door swung open. I yelped, forcing my body down to the point of almost drowning myself.

"Sorry, sorry!" Kankuro rushed to say, bending down to tear open the cabinet doors under the sink. "Where the _fuck_ is it?"

It felt as if everything was moving in slow motion. Kankuro seemed to take forever to look for whatever he was trying to find. I could hear my heavy heartbeat echoing in the water.

"What are you looking for?" I managed to squeak out as I watched him move things around throughout the bathroom.

"Just…something," he replied, obviously not willing to tell me. "Its not in here anyway, I guess. Sorry." And with that, he was gone, shutting the door behind him.

I remained in the water for nearly fifteen minutes before gaining the courage to step out. Nobody other than my parents and Kyan had seen me naked before. I wasn't entirely sure that Kankuro saw anything, but as I looked in the mirror, the deep blush I stared at gave away just how nervous I was.

After putting something light on and messing up my hair while trying to dry it with the towel, I found Kyan in my room, lounging on my bed. Her hair was also damp.

"W-Will you braid m-my hair for me?" she asked, holding a rubber band toward me.

And so I spent the next fifteen minutes trying to make the perfect waterfall of braids with her hair. I wasn't a very good braider; our mother always did it for us. So naturally, I found myself frustrated many times during the process.

"Wh-when do you think w-we'll see her again?" Kyan suddenly asked, hugging her legs to her chest.

"Who?" I asked, running my fingers through the messy braid to start over again.

"Mother."

My hands froze in her hair. What was she, a mind reader?

"Soon, I'm sure," I lied. I wasn't actually sure if we would ever see her again. "Maybe she'll come visit."

She didn't say anything after that. Finally, I braided her hair almost perfectly and decided to call it good. She didn't leave, though, so we lay in bed together. Soon enough, a light snore came from her body and I turned the lights off.

I stared at the dark ceiling for hours, lost in my own thoughts. Arranging a trip to see Mother wouldn't be hard, but finding someone to look after the restaurant while we were gone would be nerve-wracking. I couldn't just pick anyone and honestly, I didn't trust any of my new employees enough to leave them on their own.

Just as I was beginning to fall asleep, my bedroom door opened. Instead of sitting up to see who it was, I pretended to be asleep, taking long, drowsy breaths.

"There she is," Kankuro's voice whispered. I automatically assumed he was talking about Kyan.

"Hm," Gaara's raspy voice sounded. "Just wanted to be sure."

"How was she acting weird today?"

"Never mind."

There weren't more words. The door slowly closed, making almost no noise.

What did they mean? What was wrong with Kyan?

* * *

><p><strong>Hey, guys! Just wanted to say thank you again for all your support and patience. I know my updates have been lacking lately, and I apologize for that. I graduate high school in 16 days, so my family and I have been running around trying to send out invitations and make plans and whatnot, so I haven't had much time to write.<strong>

**You're all so great, especially those of you who have put up with my sudden "falling off the earth" episodes and still continued to read my story. It really does mean a lot to me, so again, thank you!**

**Please continue to enjoy this story! Love you! :D**


	14. Poison

_"It is difficult to lay aside a confirmed passion." - Catullus_

Kyan suffered from a strange sickness for a week. During that time, she stayed home in bed, not to far from a bucket we immaturely called the Puke Catcher.

My poor sister could hardly keep anything down, but she didn't lack any energy. While Kankuro and I fed her puréed food, Gaara kept an especially close eye on her and made sure she remained in bed. Missions were scarce, so while I tended to the restaurant, the siblings took care of Kyan.

But exactly a week after she first became ill, she was perfectly fine again, as if nothing had been wrong with her not even 24 hours earlier. She returned to working, making deliveries and serving as usual. However, that only lasted for about a month.

"Kyan? Kyan!" I called, running to my sister's body. She had fallen unconscious in the middle of the restaurant, causing a tray of glasses to fall down with her.

Customers surrounded her body, some fanning her head with their hands and some listening for breathing. I allowed myself to shove my way through them and lift her head into my lap. She was breathing, but her face was flushed and her eyelids fluttered violently, as if she were having a horrible nightmare.

Ryuinn flew from the kitchen, a damp cloth in his palm. Customers made way for his bulky body without hesitation. He pressed it to her forehead, running it along her cheeks and throat.

Over the loud talking and my own heartbeat, I faintly heard Keisuke speaking on the phone quickly, which was a huge surprise. In the month and a half I knew her, I don't remember her saying more than ten words a day to anyone. But now, she was explaining that we needed help fast, her eyes darting from Kyan to the window then back to Kyan.

In a swift motion, Kyan's eyes flew open and she rolled to the side, hacking up blood near my legs. People moved back instantly to avoid it.

"Can't…breathe," she whispered, inhaling and exhaling heavily to force some kind of air through her lungs.

"C'mon, everyone. Nothing to see here," Yano called, trying to herd the customers outside to give us all room. However, some decided it would be best to stay and watch with intensity, making Kyan incredibly uncomfortable.

"HEY! GET THE _FUCK_ OUT!" Kasaji yelled, holding the door open. The look on his face lacked all the humor he contained in his body. Nobody questioned him as they filed out of the building.

As I looked back to my sister, who had closed her eyes again, Keisuke kneeled next to us. "The Medical Nin are going to be here soon to take her to the hospital," she told me in a calm voice. "I also called your house and told Temari."

I didn't reply. I didn't know what to say. I only stared at Kyan, fighting off the feeling that I was about to lose another family member.

()()()

The waiting room in the hospital felt inhumanly cold. I couldn't help but shake while beside me, Kasaji was perfectly fine. The rest of my employees decided to stay behind to run the restaurant until closing, which I was more than thankful for.

"Don't even worry about it!" Ryuinn had told me. "We'll take care of this place until you get back with a healthy sister."

Behind him, Azai had nodded. "Everything will be just fine."

"God, I feel like I'm going to puke," I whispered, uncurling myself from my strange sitting position to stretch my legs out.

Kasaji's eyes remained locked on the door, waiting for the siblings to come. I was a little eager for them to arrive, too. All I wanted to do was escape everything that was happening and with Kankuro, I could do that.

"Don't puke, honeybee," he told me. "I have a super weak stomach. Want me to tell you a story of legends past?"

I eyed him strangely, as if his bipolar personality had just taken a turn for the worst.

He cleared his throat before speaking. "When Kankuro turned five, my mother made him the biggest chocolate cake I'd ever seen. She warned him to slow down, but of course, the dumbass didn't listen. He inhaled half the cake. Now, keep in mind that Kuro and I weren't best friends at this point. Anyway, after eating most of the cake, not even three seconds later, he leaned to the side of the table and puked this awesome dark blue color because, you know, the frosting was blue. I saw the puke and my stomach decided to be a sheep and do the same. That's how we became best friends."

Surprisingly, I was able to crack a small smile. It was weird how easily people could become so close over simple things like…well, puking. Or, in my case with Kankuro, it was a simple walk.

"_Take a walk with me."_

At that moment, I never would've thought things would be an explosion between us. That simple sentence led to kisses, laughter, heartbreak, and then at some point when I thought nothing could ever come of it again, I was in love.

"Haketa?"

My head turned toward the door. At first, his figure was a blur through my tears, but when I blinked them away, I wasted no time launching myself at him.

Kankuro, fully clad in his mission attire (which would explain why it took him so long to get here), hurried to take the puppet off his back before catching me in a tight hug. I nuzzled my face in his neck, dampening his clothes with my tears.

Temari entered behind him and after taking a look at me, went to sit next to Kasaji, who wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Instead of punching him in the gut, she leaned into him, both of them wearing worried expressions.

"Have they said anything?" Kankuro muttered, placing his hand on the back of my head.

"No," I replied, burying myself closer into him.

As if right on cue, the door leading into the hallways opened and a calm-looking Medical Nin came out. She smiled softly toward me.

"Are you Miss Chikaku's sister?" she asked, her voice light and airy. I only nodded. "Has Kyan eaten any substance that isn't what someone would normally deem as edible?"

"Not that I know of," I replied slowly. "I'm not always with her when she eats, though."

"We went out to lunch not that long ago," Temari popped up. "Come to think of it, that was about three days before she got sick the first time."

"What did she eat?" the Nin asked.

"The same thing I did."

"And you were with her the whole time?"

"Well, I did get up to go to the bathroom once."

A long sigh came from the woman and she folded her hands in front of her waist. "We found a poisonous material inside Kyan's digestive system, one that can only be obtained by eating a compound made specifically in Kirigakure."

I grabbed hold of Kankuro's hand and took a step closer to her. "So someone from Kiri intentionally tried to kill her?"

"No," Temari replied before anyone else could. "They must've placed the poison in the wrong order. It would make sense to try to kill the late Kazekage's daughter.

* * *

><p><strong>Guess who is finally a high school graduate? That's right! And that also means I'll have more time to write, which is always good! <strong>

**Thanks for reading!**


	15. Experience

_"My dear, I must confess, I never thought you ever knew what love was like for real." - La Dispute - Surgeon And The Scientist_

"Haketa, come on. You need to come home and sleep," Temari told me, resting a hand on my shoulder. "She isn't going to wake up just because you're staring at her."

I'd been at the hospital for over six hours with Kyan's unconscious body, sitting in a chair rather uncomfortably with her clammy hand in mine. I was exhausted, hungry, and entirely miserable, but I was terrified to leave my sister alone. Even if the Kirigakure assassins were in fact targeting Temari, what if they came back to finish Kyan off?

As if reading my mind, Temari added, "There are security personnel all over this place. If someone were to come hurt her, they'd know. Let's go home."

I decided to give in and follow her home in silence. Although it was nearly midnight, I still expected children to clutter the streets with their laughter and games. The empty roads put an anxious feeling in my gut.

It seemed as if the only lights in the village came from the Kazekage mansion. Gaara was still awake, of course. Kankuro was probably asleep just as Temari would be soon. I knew I wasn't going to sleep. Too many thoughts and worries filled my head.

As we entered the mansion, I settled my eyes on the two brothers, who were bent over a large piece of paper. Pencils were scattered about, some still on the table and some pushed off to the floor.

"Here are the pictures I got from the owner," Kankuro muttered, pushing a beige-colored envelope toward his brother.

Gaara opened it carefully and flipped through three pictures. "Hm."

"What are you guys doing?" I asked, watching Temari retire to her room for the night.

Kankuro stood and gently pulled me into his chest. "Just some research," he told me. "You should go to bed."

I glanced around his body to the paper. One of them had sloppily written the word "Kirigakure" across the top in what looked like a red crayon. Something told me they didn't have access to the resources in the Kazekage office at such a late time of night.

Lines, x's, and circles were drawn on the map, almost making it seem like a battle attack plan.

"Can I talk to you?" I whispered to Kankuro. "Alone?"

He grabbed onto my hand as we walked to his room in silence. I had no doubt in my mind that Gaara was eavesdropping, but I didn't care much.

"You're not planning a counterstrike, are you?" I questioned, sitting on the bed and crossing my arms over each other.

"Yeah, we are," he answered bluntly, crossing his arms the same way. "Its not like this is some sort of undercover mission. Baki knows about it. Besides…"

He trailed off, as if regretting the start of the new sentence. His eyes wandered from mine, focusing on the window behind me.

"Besides what?" I urged, lowing my arms to intertwine my fingers in my lap.

He let out a long sigh and returned his gaze to me. "Serisu escaped."

In a surge of panic, I hopped up with shaking legs. "She _escaped?_ How could she have escaped?"

"With the help of the assassins who poisoned Kyan." He took my seat on the bed, gently pulling me down to sit next to him. "I don't think poisoning Temari was their only goal, if at all."

"Then what was their goal?" I stared at him intently, expecting an answer right away. I didn't get my sudden answer. Instead, I was pulled into a tight embrace to listen to his soft breaths on my ear. "Kankuro," I muttered against his skin, "please just tell me. I don't want to be left out of this."

"I think you were the target."

I wasn't surprised in the very least. Serisu had escaped with help, and what better way to spend her new free time than to get revenge on the girl who had taken the person of obsession? By attacking my sister, one of the two people closest to me, she knew it would leave me scared, vulnerable, and an emotional wreck like I'd been.

I sighed and dropped my fingertips into his palms to trace the creases in his skin. "It makes sense," I finally said. "She's just still very angry, I guess."

"We're not going to let her harm you."

I raised my gaze to meet his only to be caught in something I hadn't seen in a long time, not since he tried to talk Kyan and me out of attending the Chuunin Exams so we wouldn't be harmed in the attack.

"Gaara and Temari are extremely protective of both of you, so you'll have full-time bodyguards," he informed me.

"Well what about you?"

"Well," he started, leaning back and pulling me onto his chest, "you and I will become twins. We'll be connected at the hip and you won't even be able to shower without me there."

Even though he was somewhat trying to keep the mood serious, I broke out into giggles. Kankuro raised his head to glance at me before rolling his eyes.

"I don't know why people call _me_ the pervert."

()()()

There was a certain way I felt that night and I couldn't exactly describe that feeling. It was a strange warmth, that much I knew for sure. What I wasn't sure of was if it was a result of an emotional creation, or the waves of pleasure I felt shortly after the sting of pain hit me.

As I rested my head on Kankuro's bare chest, listening to his rapid heartbeat and heavy breaths, I felt perfectly okay. Something had happened that wasn't expected and at first, I had been terrified. But after realizing I could never be as close to him as I was during that time, I felt more than safe, like nothing in the world could ever harm me again.

I raised my hand to allow my fingertips to dance lightly across his chest, raising goosebumps and causing a small shiver to slide through his body. In a swift motion, he rolled to his side, curled his arms around me, and pulled me into him. At that moment, he became my everything; my air, my sun, my life.

"I love you."


	16. Solitude

"_The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them." –Ernest Hemingway_

Escaping the constant watch of the siblings was extremely difficult, especially with the fact that Gaara was always awake. Everything had to be planned out perfectly because if I were to screw up just once, there was no way I would be able to stop the attacks on my sister.

First and foremost, Kankuro had to be asleep. Dead asleep. That was the easiest part of the entire operation. He was naturally a heavy sleeper, so the second I heard the soft snoring, I wiggled my way out from under his arm, slipped on my clothes, and carefully shut the bedroom door behind me.

The next part was a bit trickier. I had to sneak around Gaara, who seemed like a statue as he bent over the map of Kirigakure. It seemed as if I was waiting for hours in the darkness of the hallway, watching him like he was my prey. Finally, his legs moved in a way I was expecting for a long time. With a quick glance around, he left the map for only a few minutes while he used the bathroom.

I took this opportunity to slip away from my hiding spot and slip my Courier Nin backpack over my shoulders, grabbing the map in the process. The front door was nearly silent as I skidded out.

"Where do you think you're going?!"

I froze in my steps, my hand still on the doorknob. This was my very first self-given solo mission and I'd already messed it up. Worst Shinobi ever.

"I'm going to Kirigakure," I told Temari as I turned around. She stood glaring at me, her arms crossed over her chest. It was hard to take her seriously, though, as I looked upon her messed up sleep hair and her pajamas.

"Its two o'clock in the damned morning. Can't this wait until the sun is up so we can come with you? Don't you realize how dangerous it is to go alone?"

I shook my head slowly. "No, it can't wait. And I don't want anyone to come with me. Serisu is after me and only me. I'm not going to let her continue to hurt everyone else because of whatever problem she has with me. In all reality, this has nothing to do with any of you."

Slowly, her hands fell from her chest and her palms rested on my shoulders. "That is the _stupidest_ thing I have ever heard. How can you say it has nothing to do with the rest of us? She's Kankuro's crazy ex-girlfriend, so it involves him automatically. And Gaara and I are involved simply because he's involved and because you're her target."

I stared at her for a short amount of time before twisting my upper body away from her. Her hands fell and I started to walk, ignoring her threats that they would follow me. I didn't doubt it for a second.

()()()

The first thing you realize when you're following a map that has been drawn on by your boyfriend and his brother is that you're going to get lost and that is a proven fact. Lines that were once signifying roads become red veins covering the piece of paper. Pictures of buildings start to look like odd shapes. And nothing truly looks like a river like it is supposed to.

Also, when you find yourself in a misty forest, seeing is nearly impossible and the damp air makes you feel like your hair is dripping wet. I will tell you, that is a very unpleasant feeling.

I continued on, though, feeling my way for trees and squinting as hard as possible to see. All the blurred trees started to look the same and the sound of running water came from all around me. I had no idea where it was actually coming from.

After a long while, I had to sit down to wipe my dry eyes with the back of my hands. I honestly had no idea how long I'd been travelling. I knew it was more than two days. That was an entire trip from Sunagakure to Konohagakure. I must've been making good tracks to have gotten so close to my target village.

My stomach rumbled loudly and I sighed. The only thing I had packed to feed myself was a bundle of protein bars and I was quickly running out of those. My head pounded with a hunger headache, so I had no choice to eat one more. That would hold me until the next day. It had to.

As I searched through my backpack for another bar, I wondered if the siblings were on my trail and if they were, I wondered how close they were. I hoped they were close at all. I hoped they didn't come after me. But if I knew Kankuro as well as I thought I did, he was the first to announce that they would be coming after me.

That wasn't a good thing. I wanted to do this alone, not only for myself, but also for my family. I was tired of relying on my family to get the things I needed. Moving to Sunagakure with Kyan was my first step toward actual independence. I wanted more of it and saving Kyan by myself was the only way I would achieve it.

A senbon landed hard in the ground right in front of my left foot and I heard a hushed, "Shit!" coming from above me. I glanced up to see a shadowed figure on a branch, glaring down at me.

Without hesitation, I grabbed my backpack and slung it over my shoulder. As I ran through the mist, I could hear the person chasing after me, breaking twigs along their way. They weren't very stealthy at all.

I forced myself to a stop as soon as I reached a wide river. There was no other way I could get across other than to jump in and swim for my life. So I did, backpack and all.

The water was horribly freezing as I flailed across. I'd never been a strong swimmer, but my time running around to deliver packages had strengthened my legs to the point where I could push myself far once my feet touched the bottom. But that only worked for a short time. As I went further into the river, the ground went lower and I found that I wasn't tall enough to reach the bottom.

As hard as I tried, I knew I was screwed when the person who was chasing me tackled me into the water. They'd been running on top of the water like I'd seen many of the Shinobi do before. I could never truly get the hang of it, though.

I struggled to hold the person under the water and get my own head above the waves to breathe. However, they were much, much stronger than me.

Through the dizziness I was suffering and the water splashing onto my face, I was slightly able to see the person's face. It was a man, no doubt, with a face covered with facial hair. There was a small scar across his left eye, as if he had been attacked by a small animal like a raccoon.

His strong hands grasped around my waist and pulled me deep under the water. I inhaled a mouthful of liquid and attempted to cough it out, only to make myself suffer worse. So I did the only thing I could do: grab the kunai knife attached to my thigh and dug it deep into his shoulder.

My lungs burned painfully with lack of air and the intake of freezing water. My arms and legs began to grow numb and when the man grabbed a fistful of my hair, I had no strength to fight him off.

When the darkness finally came, it made me feel nice. A sleepy kind of nice. It reminded me of a rainy day I'd spent with Kankuro back in Konohagakure so long ago. It was so cold in the house and the rest of my family was out. Kankuro and I spent the entire day wrapped in blankets, drifting in and out of sleep.

I'm glad that was my last thought before I slipped away.


	17. Torture

_"On one issue, at least, men and women agree: they both distrust women". - Henry Louis Mencken_

I dreamed. Which I thought was especially weird considering I'd just drowned. Maybe when people die, they just dream forever. I'm not sure, but being dead isn't so bad.

In my dream, I was running with my sister. She was running a lot faster than me and all I could wonder is how she could run so fast on such short thirteen-year-old legs? I called to her to slow down and that I can't keep up.

Our father ran behind me, but he looked so angry. Every time I turned around to glance at him, he looked angrier and further away. I yelled for him to hurry up, that Kyan would get hurt if she got lost, but he just glared forward until suddenly, he was bloodied and lying on the filthy ground.

I screamed a soundless scream, but instead of running toward him, my feet were stuck to the ground. My sister's high-pitched yell forced my gaze to her.

She was naked, underneath a large man. His body overtook hers easily as with every thrust, she cried louder. And there was blood, so much blood. I didn't think a body as small as hers could hold so much blood.

"You blame your piece of shit father for this!" the man bellowed at her between grunts. "He caused this on you! THIS IS HIS FAULT!"

And Kyan kept begging him to stop hurting her. And I stood there, watching him rape her until he was finished. And I didn't do anything.

()()()

I gasped to catch my breath, feeling as if my lungs were no longer in my body. I couldn't get enough air in me and the air that I did get tasted stale. My eyelids fluttered about, blinking the tears from my eye.

I couldn't tell where I was. It was creepily dark, but even if I wanted to get up to explore, I couldn't. Something was holding my wrists to a cold wall above my head, but my legs were free.

Cold air settled on my skin. I was naked except for something that covered my breasts and pelvic region. But other than that, everything else was exposed. Someone had stripped me of everything that I was wearing and carrying on me when I was attacked.

I tried to pull my hands free, but the jingle of the chains bounding my wrists stopped me short. There was no way I could get out of a binding like that. I wasn't as strong as Kankuro or had an outside force to help me like Gaara's sand. I was trapped, and that was that.

I'm not sure how long I stayed there. A few hours, I assumed. During that time, my arms became sore and my stomach started to growl and the urge to pee was slowly rising. This was very bad and not knowing where in the world I was only made it so much worse.

Finally, voiced echoed around me. My head snapped up from its dangling resting position and I tried to squint to see anything in the darkness.

"So what do we do with her now that we have her?" a male voice asked. Two pairs of footfalls came closer and a door creaked open, letting in light.

I shut my eyes tight and turned my head away from it. The sudden brightness of the room caused a dull pain in my head, even though it was one of the many things I was longing for at that point in time. Dark shadows slowly started to form until their faces came into view. It was then that I recognized the man who attacked me and Serisu.

She looked only slightly different. Her hair had been cut nearly to her scalp. A deep gash was beginning to heal on her right cheek. And she was covered in dirt, almost as if she hadn't bathed in weeks.

"We'll keep her for a bit," Serisu replied, putting her hands on her hips to show some sort of power. "At least until we get the information that we want from her. After that, I don't really care what happens."

Information? What information was she talking about? I didn't know any secrets worth keeping someone hostage over. The only thing that would be remotely considered important was the recipe to the restaurant's soba noodles.

"I don't know anything," I whispered. Part of me expected my voice to come out clear, but I wasn't surprised in the least bit when it came out as quiet as it did.

"I'm sure," the man replied. "That's exactly what your father said."

"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?" Serisu added with a smirk. "We'll deal with her later. Did you report back to Noja?"

As they left me alone, they carried on their conversation about this Noja person. I'd never heard that name in my life, but I was guessing that whomever they were, they thought I knew something that I didn't.

()()()

I was hungry. Absolutely starving.

Thoughts of being back in Sunagakure with Kyan and the siblings and the new food I never had the chance to experience lingered in my mind. I was horrified that they decided to let me be and not come for me. Maybe Temari had listened to my plea of independence and told the others to do the same. I hoped not. I really hoped she decided against listening to me.

"Stupid," I hissed to myself.

I should've known not to do this alone. I should've listened to Temari and waited for everyone else to assist me. There was nothing I could successfully complete on my own. Nothing at all. More than anything, I made the situation worse. There was no doubt that Kyan was worried about me, and with her sickness overtaking her, that was the very last thing I wanted.

I wanted to just give up and die. I wasn't strong enough to break the chains and I certainly wasn't strong enough to keep myself from crying.

The tears burned the scratches on my face as they rolled down my skin. I wanted to wipe them away, but I couldn't get my hands close enough to my face. So instead of continuing with my struggle, I just bowed my head as much as possible and hoped they would just fall onto the ground.

I waited for them to come back. And when they did, I hoped they would kill me. But instead, they just stared at me for a very long time.

"We can make this easy on you Hateka," Serisu said, putting her face only inches from mine. "If you cooperate, it'll be painless and we'll let you go so you can scurry back to that piece of shit you call a man."

"What do you want to know?" I muttered, glaring daggers into her eyes.

"Where is your family keeping it?"

"Excuse me?"

I was thoroughly confused at that point. My family wasn't keeping anything, except maybe tips on how to successfully run a restaurant business. Other than that, we had nothing to offer.

"The money," the man answered. "Your father owes our boss a bit of change and we've been sent to collect it."

I couldn't keep my eyes off Serisu. "You were a part of this the entire time?"

She only grinned. "Not at the start. My only main goal after that little spat we had was to kill you myself. And then I came into contact with these men. For the little information I had about you, they rescued me and helped me escape."

Nothing was making sense at this point. What money were they talking about? We barely had enough to keep the restaurant running. And how exactly did Serisu meet these people if she had been locked away? She must've met them beforehand.

"My family doesn't have any money," I told them. "The only money we make is the money from our business."

I'm not even entire sure what happened after that. Serisu's palm smacked against my cheek but at first, I didn't feel anything. Then slowly, the stinging pain came, causing my eyes to water up again.

"Don't play dumb, you bitch," she hissed, grabbing my face. "All you have to do is tell us where the fucking money is and you can go."

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT MONEY YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!" I screamed. Then another slap.

This went on for hours. Finally, my face had become so numb that I couldn't feel the pain anymore, but I knew it was extremely swollen. The punches to the stomach I received by the man were the only thing that hurt anymore. With every punch, I felt as if he'd destroyed a part of my lungs. They would give me a few moments to catch my breath to tell them, once again, that I had no idea what money they were talking about, and then I would be harmed again.

"This is getting us nowhere," Serisu finally said, taking a step back. "Maybe if we cut her up a bit, she'll be more willing to share."

My heart dropped. Torture didn't seem as horrible as I thought it would until she said that. That's when I knew the true pain would come.

"I'll get the instruments," the man said before taking his leave.

I closed my eyes tight, trying to get away from it all. But I couldn't. As hard as I tried, I could still hear Serisu taunting me, calling me names, even over my own screaming inside my head.

"Serisu, what are you doing?" an older voice asked.

I opened my eyes to see a very large man looking at her. He was missing an eye and wore a Sunagakure headband around his silver hair. My eyes burned too much to pick out any other details, so I just gave up.

"We found his firstborn for you, Noja. She isn't giving us any information, though," Serisu answered.

The man, Noja, pushed her out of his way and glanced down at me. "Well, aren't you just a splitting image of your father?"

I didn't reply to him. I just stared him down and continued to wonder what else was going to happen to me.

He reached up and played with the chains. I suspected he was tightening them until I fell onto the ground. My arms throbbed in pain so I decided not to move them at all. I just remained on the cold stone floor, curled into a ball of myself.

"What did I tell you?" Noja asked Serisu, turning back to her. "I specifically instructed you not to harm anyone. This wasn't a hostage mission for you. It was supposed to be a simple one."

"But I thought you wanted your money," she whimpered, looking at him as if she were a puppy who had just been kicked by her owner.

"NOT THIS WAY!" he bellowed and delivered a fist to her cheek, causing her to stumble to the ground in a puddle of sniffles. Then, he turned back to me. "You don't know, do you?"

I couldn't reply. My mouth was too swollen to even form the letters with my lips. So I shook my head.

I was lifted from the ground. Everything about my body just felt so heavy and uneven. I let him carry (well, I really had no choice) me out of wherever I was. There was a long corridor that I saw and then finally, I felt the wet mist of the outside air.

"You will never come back here. Do you understand me? This deed is done," Noja told me in a voice that only someone with too much authority would have.

As he placed me down, I felt the tickle of the cold grass on my bare skin. I couldn't see the sunlight through the mist, but I knew it was there somewhere.

I turned my head to look at Noja. He was a few feet away from me, rustling around in his pocket. Then, he pulled out a small item I was very familiar with and threw it to the ground. Before the smoke engulfed his figure, he had run off to return to his employers.

I waited for hours for someone to come. Once the sky started to grow dark, however, I gave up and accepted the fact that I was going to die.

Suddenly, I was very warm. Skin was pressed against mine and the sensation of trickling sand ran down my arms.

"She's in worse condition than Kyan," Temari's voice said.

Finally, they had come.


	18. Go Home

_"The trust of the innocent is the liar's most useful tool." – Stephen King_

I awoke in the hospital with two pairs of eyes staring down at me. One pair belonged to my mother and the other belonged to Temari. In less than a second, my mother's filled with tears.

"She's awake!" she cried, wrapping her arms tightly around my neck and hugging me close. "Haketa, you had me so worried! Why did you run off on your own like that?!"

I winced in pain. Mother must not have realized that what she thought was loving hugs were actually binds of pain. Luckily, Temari put a hand between us to separate her from me. A small cough came from my lips, sending my lungs into spasms of sharp pains.

"I…I don't know," I finally replied. "I thought I could stop the people who hurt Kyan, but I couldn't."

I managed to scoot back and sit against the headboard of the bed. After intertwining my fingers together in my lap, I shook my head, trying to blink back the tears that were forming in my eyes. I tried my very hardest to keep myself from crying, but when the liquid slid down my cheeks, I couldn't stop.

"I-I just thought that…that if I was able to kill whoever attacked her, that we would both be safe," I explained. "But I didn't realize that the men who attacked her…well, us…were part of a bigger plan than I expected."

My mother sat on the edge of the bed and stroked my hair. "Were you able to find out their names?" she asked softly as Temari sat on the other side of the bed.

I nodded slowly. "One of the people who hurt me was Serisu and their boss was named Noja."

Temari's head turned to glance at my mother. "Serisu has been a long-time enemy of us, but I've never heard of this Noja person."

"I have," my mother replied. "Before you were born, your father had a gambling addiction. He racked up more debt than we could ever pay off. That's why we started the restaurant business, in hopes that someday we could pay it off."

"What does Noja have to do with all of this?" I asked, wiping my cheeks with the backs of my hands.

"Noja owns a chain of casinos. Unfortunately, your father decided that this were his favorite spots. We'd met Noja on many occasions and those two even became good friends over the years. I would never have imagined that he would have turned into such a ruthless man." Mother shook her head. "All over money."

"I don't think he is ruthless," I replied quickly. "When he found me and realized how badly Serisu and the other had beaten me, he was very mad at them and even hit her. Then, he carried me outside and told me the deed is done. I wasn't sure what that meant until now."

The three of us fell quiet then. I stared at my bandaged hands and wondered how long it would take me to completely heal. I couldn't stay out of work too long. But then again, if Noja decided that the debt was no longer an interest of him, then would my family have to continue with the restaurant business? If not, then what would I do? Find another job? Take up a life of painting? Painting wouldn't pay the bills…

The silence was broken with the opening of the door. Kankuro walked in and shut the door behind him, then looked at me. He looked as if sleep hadn't overtaken him in days. His hair seemed even messier than usual and light purple rings shadowed the bottom of his eyes.

"I'm glad you're finally awake," he muttered. I expected him to walk to me and kiss my forehead, but he remained by the door, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Yeah, kind of a miracle, huh?" I answered awkwardly, trying to figure out why there was such a tense feeling in the air.

"Haketa," my mother said, brining my attention back to her. She placed her hands on top of mine and gave me a small smile. "Temari, Kankuro, and I have been discussing something and we've come to the decision that maybe it would be best if you and your sister came back home."

My gaze flew from her eyes, to Temari's, to Kankuro's, then back to hers. "But…I don't understand. This is my home."

"Back to Konohagakure," Kankuro said firmly. "Once you're fully recovered, you should leave. We've already packed your things."

My heart felt as if it had shattered and fell into my stomach. I didn't know what to say. My lower lip trembled with unspoken words. I just didn't understand. They didn't want us here anymore?

"Why?" I was finally able to ask.

"We just feel that you both will be safer back home," Mother replied.

"But I don't want to leave," I said defensively. "I like it here! I like the heat and I like all the sand and I like drinking my own body weight in water! I don't want to leave anyone and I especially don't want to leave…," pausing for a moment, I looked at Kankuro, "you. I don't want to leave you, ever. I love you."

Nothing was happening as I expected. Kankuro only shook his head and whispered, "You need to go home," before walking back out the door.

I grabbed at the blankets and buried my face in them. I didn't care if my mother and Temari were still in the room. I just cried and didn't stop until I was asleep.

()()()

Kankuro didn't come back to see me until the sixth day of my stay in the hospital. Luckily, if the nurses were correct, I would only have to stay for another week before I was healed enough to leave. But that meant I would also be leaving Sunagakure.

"Hey," he mumbled, closing the door behind him. He looked a lot better than his last visit. The purple rings had disappeared and his hair returned to the original state of messy.

"Hi," I replied, sitting up from my lying position to watch him take a seat on a chair next to the bed.

"How do you feel?"

The question was so normal that I began to giggle. "Oh, I feel fucking fantastic," I answered, lying back down and covering my head with the blanket. "You made your appearance to look like a good person. Everyone gets it. You can go now."

Kankuro was quiet for so long that eventually, I thought he had silently left. But then, he said, "You think that's why I came here? To look like a good person to everyone else? Hakata, I don't care what everyone else thinks. I wanted to see you."

I didn't move or reply. I just stared at the small beam of light coming from a crack in the blanket shell I had made for myself. My stomach tied into knots. I just wanted him to leave.

"I'm sorry," he finally muttered. "I was just pissed that you left on your own. You didn't say anything to me about it. What would have happened if we never found you, or if they had killed you? I just wished you would have mentioned to me about your plan instead of just telling Temari and keeping the rest of us in the dark."

"It was nobody's business but mine," I defended.

"I thought I meant more to you than that."

I shot up in a rush of…of…There were too many emotions to put it into one word. Hurt, anger, regret. Before I could say anything, however, Kankuro was already gone, the door being shut behind him.

And that was it. Being done with the day, I returned to my blanket shell, hoping to shut out the rest of the world forever.


	19. The Hardest Part

_"The seconds take a part of me with them. Hopefully to you." – I Wrote This For You_

Like Kankuro had said, when I returned to the sibling's home, all my belongings were packed alongside Kyan's. I entered my…well, the guest room, and glanced around. None of the surroundings would be familiar to me once I left. Not the dresser that I had never quite used, not the window that I'd spent hours staring out of some days, not the bed where Kankuro and I had once…

I didn't want to leave. My stomach felt sick and my head was throbbing. Maybe I was coming down with a fever. That could be a good excuse to stay in Suna for a little while longer.

"No," I whispered to myself, sitting on the bed. I couldn't just make up excuses to stay. They wanted Kyan and me to leave, so I needed to suck it up and go.

The bedroom door opened and one of the men who would be escorting us back walked in to grab some of my things. "Kyan is ready to leave," he informed me in a gruff voice. "Are you?"

"Um, yeah," I muttered, rising to my feet. "I'm ready."

As I followed him through the house, I kept my gaze to the floor. When we passed Kankuro's bedroom, I noticed the door was open a small crack. Fighting the urge to open it and tell him that I was sorry and that I wanted to stay was very difficult, but when the door closed on its own, I continued to walk behind the escort.

We met Kyan and Gaara at the front door. I think watching them saw goodbye was just as heartbreaking as not saying goodbye to Kankuro. Kyan stared at the floor and stood in front of him, her hands clasped together in front of her.

The escort stopped short when he saw them then retreated to the dark hallway. Instead of doing the same, I stood and watched.

They were quiet for a very long time and didn't move. Then, out of nowhere, Kyan flung her arms around his neck and began to cry. Panic flashed through me as I expected a wall of sand to spring up and strangle her, but everything remained calm.

Gaara allowed her to stay there, crying into his shoulder, until finally, his arms slowly rose to wrap around her smaller frame and pull her closer. And she just kept crying. And he let her.

()()()

Our goodbye to Temari was hilarious, in its own way. She met us at the gates, gave a both a tight hug, and said, "I swear, if you two start that crying bullshit with me, I won't let you come back to visit for the holidays. Got it?"

But I think we all knew that we wouldn't be sharing the holidays together. We just didn't want to admit it.

We began the trek to Konohagakure. During the time we spent walking, Kyan and the escort carried on a small, meaningless conversation to break the awkward tension, but I remained quiet.

I didn't want to leave the restaurant, but I knew it would be in good hands. We left it in charge of Kasaji, who was more than happy to take over the position and thanked us more than twenty times. Even though I told him he didn't have to thank us and that he was the only one we trusted enough to run it for us, he still kept going.

We walked for what seemed like weeks until the sky finally grew dark. We were making good time; trees were beginning to come into view, which meant we were approaching the Fire Nation. We would be home within another day or so.

We set up sleeping bags in a formation that if someone were to attack, our escort could easily put us behind him to defend us. Kyan was the first to fall asleep and shortly after, our escort did too. I remained awake, searching through my bag for something to help me sleep. I felt tired, but every time I curled up in my sleeping bag, I was suddenly wide awake and alert.

I didn't find anything to help me sleep, but as I searched, something small and hard caught my attention. Slowly, I lifted a small bracelet from my cluster of clothes. It had belonged to Kankuro, the one with the brown beads and green jagged lines. I hadn't seen it on his wrist since the day he bought it at the market.

How did this get in my things? I lifted it up and stared at it for a long time. Then, I slid it onto my wrist. It was a lot bigger than I expected, so it hung off my skin about an inch. Still, I kept it on.

Once again, I tried to sleep. Instead of remaining awake like before, I rolled to my left side and stared at the bracelet until sleep overtook me.

()()()

My mother was the first to give Kyan and I any sort of attention. She pulled us both into tighter hugs that Temari could ever give and began to cry. I'm not sure what she said, but I heard the words "my little girls" and "home" a few times.

After being overdramatically reunited, she left us to unpack our things in our rooms. Kyan disappeared from the family for hours and I disappeared from the world.

My bed was uncomfortably big and my room had an unfamiliar scent to it. Every time I inhaled, I expected the dry smell of sand. But instead, I smelled moisture in the air. I didn't like it. In fact, I hated it.

I didn't even feel like putting away my things or setting up my room the way I had it before. Even though this was the house I had grown up in, it didn't feel like home.

I moved my wrist to the front of my face and stared at the bracelet. I tried to image that the space between my wrist and the beads was Kankuro's space, and that at any moment, he would come and slip his hand in there where in belonged. But I realized that it was stupid of me to think like that.

The escort dropped by my room at a certain point to place the rest of my things on the floor. I didn't stand to thank him for bringing us here. I didn't even acknowledge his presence, not even when he bowed and said, "It was a pleasure to serve you." Then I was left alone again, and I was okay with it.

When my mother called for us to come downstairs and eat dinner, I didn't move. I just felt like my body no longer had any bones in it, like I was completely empty of anything that had once made me human. It was a horrible, sickening feeling, but I couldn't feel any other way.

I didn't cry. I just felt as if it were a waste.

"Haketa!" Mother called, knocking on my door before coming in. When she saw me, she frowned and took a seat on the edge of the bed. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Eventually," I told her. "I didn't want to leave."

"I know." She placed her head on my head and began to stroke my hair. "You know, you could always go back and visit for things like Kankuro's birthday."

I shook my head, freeing myself from her hand. "I don't think he'll want me around ever again."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," she said amusingly. Without another word, she stood up and left me to myself.

If anything, that was the only thing I could be sure of.

()()()

Life fell back into the monotonous routine of days at the restaurant. I never had anything to look forward to and before I knew it, I had fallen into a state of depression. Even when my father was killed and Kyan became mute, I never stopped eating for three days because I had no appetite. But when I did eat again, I found myself so suddenly hungry that I ate too fast and too much, that I usually found myself bent over the toilet, puking it all back up.

Mother had taken me to see the Medical Shinobi who had trained Kyan. I was told to exercise three times a week to see if my condition improved, but when I refused to get out of bed most mornings, that plan was quickly abandoned.

One morning, Kyan entered my room and closed the door behind her. Over the month that we had been back in Konoha, she hadn't said much to me, but from hearing her conversations with others, her speech had improved tenfold.

"Why are you doing this to yourself?" she demanded to know.

"Doing what?" I asked, pulling the blankets over my head. With a quick yank, the blankets were off my body and on the floor.

"Starving yourself, keeping yourself locked up in your room, ignoring everyone that cares about you."

"I don't know."

I sat up and reached for the blankets, but Kyan pushed them even further away with her foot. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at me. I only shrugged and lay back down, placing my pillow over my head.

"You're not being fair to yourself, you know," she scolded.

"I don't care."

"Yes, you do. If you didn't, you would just kill yourself without putting up with the starvation. What if Kankuro were to come back, huh? Would you want him to see you in this condition?"

I started to laugh. I laughed so hard and so long that my stomach began to hurt. "He wouldn't come back," I finally said. "There's no reason for him to come back."

With a quick huff, Kyan disappeared for only a few minutes before returning with a piece of paper. She threw it at me, then turned and left, slamming the door behind her.

Slowly, I grabbed the paper and read it, my hands trembling at the handwriting.

_Kyan,_

_I'll be there in four days. Please make sure it's ready for me to grab. Thanks._

_-Kankuro_

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><p><strong>Well, we've reached the beginning of the end! That's right, the next chapter will be the last! I hope you've enjoyed the story as much as I've enjoyed writing it! :)<strong>_  
><em>


	20. Carry You Away

The bracelet. It had to be the bracelet. What else would he come to Konohagakure for?

I sat on my bed, bent over the beads that I held too securely in my hands. I didn't want to give it up. As pathetic as it sounded, it was the only kind of connection I had left to Kankuro, and I wasn't ready to let it go just yet. Even the thought of handing it over made tears spring to my eyes.

I kept staring at the date on the note Kankuro had sent. It was sent two days ago, meaning I had two more days if nothing had conflicted with his journey. What was I going to do? I guess the only logic answer was to just give it back the second he asked for it.

If he was coming back, then I couldn't let him see me in the condition I'd been in. I stood up from my bed, slipped the oversized bracelet back onto my wrist, and stomped my way down to the kitchen to face my mother, who looked entirely confused.

"Haketa?" she questioned as I rummaged through the pantries. "How are you feeling?"

"Hungry," I answered, playing myself in front of an oversized bowl of rice that she had prepared a few hours earlier.

The only thing I focused on was how much rice I could fix into my mouth before I couldn't swallow. Mother watched me cautiously as I shoveled the white substance into my mouth until finally, I stopped suddenly.

"Uh-oh," I muttered, placing the chopsticks next to the empty bowl.

"I'm glad you have your appetite back, but if you keep eating so quickly like that, you're just going to end up—"

I didn't want to admit that my mother was right about my food intake, but I had no choice once my head was forced into the toilet and my stomach pushed all that rice back up. And she just stood in the doorway, shaking her head and repeating, "I told you so" in a voice that maybe she thought was motherly.

Once I was finished retching up the bile from my stomach, I leaned back against the wall and pushed my head between my legs. I felt myself panicking, but I didn't know how to snap myself out of it. Before I knew it, my head was back in the toilet, pushing out stomach acid.

My mother only shook her head, obviously tired of the same routine that I had subjected her to, and returned to the kitchen to finish whatever project she had begun before I interrupted. I slowly collapsed onto the cold floor and stared at the base of the toilet.

Who was I to burden my family with this sadness of mine? Since our return from Sunagakure, Kyan's days mostly filled with checking on me between other tasks. I had become self-centered, only thinking about myself and the fact that others should only think about me as well. And that's how it seemed for a while.

My mother slaved over different foods to make sure I could eat something, even if it was a few grains of rice. Kyan took moments out of her days for me. Sakura and Ino would constantly stop by to leave cute cards and flowers at my doorstep because I refused to open my bedroom door for a great portion of the day.

I had become a disappointment and a rock, a motionless, emotionless, selfish rock, to everyone, including myself. If my father were to see me now, he would call me a disgrace without hesitation. He would say, "Haketa, what in the world do you think you're doing? Get your head out of your ass and thank the gods you're alive. And then go out and live for them."

"But it hurts," I whispered to my father's voice.

I understood that it hurt and it would probably continue to hurt for a very long time, but this wasn't the first time I'd experienced this situation. If I could do it once, I could do it again.

()()()

The day came much quicker than I'd hoped. I didn't sleep the night before, but I figured that was okay. Scenarios kept playing through my head of how Kankuro would come to take his bracelet back.

I pictured him coming into Konohakure with an entire army behind him, snatching the bracelet right off my wrist, and walking back the way he came. And when I would run after him, the army would stop me, their weapons pointed at my throat.

But then I realized that I wouldn't try to run after him, so I made another scenario.

Kankuro would casually walk into the village alone, knock on the front door to the house, I would answer and simply place the bracelet into his outstretched palm. Then, without a word being spoken, he would return to Sunagakure and we would forget about each other again.

More than anything, I hoped for the second. However, as I obsessively swept the floor of the kitchen, I came to the realization that no amount of hoping would change what was going to happen.

Kyan watched me from her perch on the counter, her gaze following the rhythmic back-and-forth motion of the broom. I avoided eye contact with her because I knew that she was also waiting for the knock at the door.

"Do you have it?" she asked for what seemed like the hundredth time. I sighed and propped the broom against the wall.

"Of course," I replied, digging through my pocket. I tossed the bracelet onto the counter, watched it slide on the surface, and fall onto the ground. Kyan shook her head and grabbed it before I could, just in time for the dreaded knock to echo throughout the house.

I stopped breathing for a quick moment only to remind myself that this had to happen and that this moment was the reason I'd been forcing myself to eat in annoying slow paces throughout the past few days: so that Kankuro could see that I was okay without him, that I did the right thing, and that I was going to be perfectly fine in Konoha.

"Do you want me to get it?" Kyan asked, raising a brow at me. I yanked the bracelet from her grasp and set foot toward the door.

"No, I'll get it."

The short trip to the door dragged on and with every footstep, I felt myself wanting to back away more and more. By the time I was finally in front of it, I wanted to drop the bracelet, run to my room, and hide under the blankets like I was used to doing.

"Well, go on," Kyan urged. She was standing so close to me that I could almost feel her breath on my back. There was no way I could turn and run. I grabbed the doorknob, flung the door open, and took a deep breath, preparing to defend myself at any second.

Kankuro stared down at me with a seemingly bored expression on his face. His didn't wear his kabuki paint or the black puppeteer suit. He wore casual clothes, his hair a mess, just like I'd seen him so many times in Sunagakure.

"Here," I muttered, holding out the bracelet for him. He didn't take it, but instead, the bored look on his face turned into a very confused one.

"What's this?" he asked, slipping his fingers through it to take it from my hand.

"That bracelet. Isn't that why you're here?"

His gaze shifted from the bracelet, to me, to Kyan behind me, then back to me. He extended his fingers, allowing the beads to roll onto his wrist, noticing that somehow, my smaller wrists had stretched it out as it slightly dangled from his skin.

"Not…entirely," Kankuro answered softly.

I felt for the doorknob again, searching for some kind of cool metal relief for the heat I felt all over my body. What in the world was he talking about? And what had the two of them been planning this whole time behind my back?

Then, out of nowhere, Kankuro burst into fits of laughter. It continued until he leaned his forearm on the side of the house and rested his forehead against his skin, holding his stomach with his free had. Finally, it dulled into short chuckles.

"You thought I came here for the bracelet?" he asked. With a quick clearing of his throat, he straightened himself out. "May I come in?" Without an answer, he walked past me.

"Go ahead," I replied a little too late.

Kankuro took a seat at our table and only then did I realize that Kyan was nowhere to be seen. Before I could start to wonder where she went, Kankuro began to fumble with the bracelet, pushing it back and forth between his hands on the surface.

"I've kind of been putting this off for a while," he started, not lifting his face to look at me. I leaned against the counter, crossing my arms over my chest. Then I remembered that in a book I once read, that meant I was creating some sort of barrier between the two of us, so my palms were quickly pressed to the surface of the counter.

"Putting what off?"

That was when he finally looked at me. "Right after you left, Temari sat down with me and had one of those long, annoying, stupid sister-to-brother talks. I didn't listen to most of it, because she talked forever and I just hates when she talks most of them time. Most of it was just her basically yelling at me for letting you go…again."

I bit the inside of my cheek. No matter how many days and months had passed, that incident was still brought up. I absolutely hated it, but there was nothing I could do about it. As long as everyone remembered, it would still be talked about. I just had to accept it.

"But there was one thing she said that made me feel like a complete bastard," Kankuro continued. "She said, 'Hateka loves you so much, that she risked her life so you wouldn't have to go after the people who hurt Kyan. And you pushed her away because of it.' And then I realized…"

He trailed off into silence and I just assumed that he was planning his next words very carefully. His gaze dropped onto the bracelet once again for only a few moments.

"I realized that I love you with all my heart, and that sort of thing coming from me is an accomplishment because I think people are just the ugliest and stupidest things to ever walk the earth."

Kankuro stood up and moved closer to me. My heart was beating so fast and my legs were trembling so much that I felt if I tried to move away from him, I would fall and embarrass the living hell out of myself. So I had no choice but to stay still when his arms wrapped around me and pulled me into his chest.

I inhaled his scent and choked back the tears that threatened to fall. But I kept my eyes shut tightly and my hands balled into fists at my side.

"I'm…sorry for what I did. I was just being selfish and, you know, me. I know I should have been more concerned with you instead of the way I was feeling. This month away from you made me understand that sometimes, I'm going to fuck up, and sometimes, you're going to fuck up. And we're going to fuck up together, but as long as we can look past each other's fuckings up, then everything will be okay."

I couldn't stop the tears now, nor could I stop my arms from wrapping around him and holding him as tightly to me as I could. I knew that no matter what was going to happen, I was so desperately in love with him that I could never truly let him go.

"Kyan packed most of your things for you. You're coming back home, aren't you?" Kankuro asked just before kissing the top of my head. I could only nod.

()()()

I'm packing my things now, mostly the stuff Kyan forgot about. My room is more than empty, what with all my belongings in separate bags. I'm taking everything with me this time in a way to show everyone and myself that I'm not coming back to live in Konohagakure, that I'm staying where and with who I belong.

"Are you sure you don't need help?" Kankuro asks from my doorway. I stand and fling my backpack over my shoulder.

"I'm done now. How was the talk with my mother?"

"Fine, as always. She loves me."

I smile and move toward him, planting a quick kiss on his lips. "Not as much as I do."

He chuckles against my lips, causing a tickling sensation on them. "Coming back to me after the shit I've done? I wouldn't doubt it for a second."

()()()

"Can I ask something?"

"Sure."

"What would you have done if I hadn't agreed to coming back to Sunagkure?"

"Kidnapped you."

"Oh…"

()()()

"_I said never apologize for how you feel. No one can control how they feel. The sun doesn't apologize for being the sun. The rain doesn't say sorry for falling. Feelings just are." – _Intentional Dissonance_, Iain S. Thomas_

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><p><strong>Hi there! So, this was the last chapter. This was the very first story in my seven years of writing fanfiction that I ever completed. Yay, accomplishments!<strong>

**Anyway, I want to thank all of you readers who have stuck with me for the two years that I was writing Trust and Just Fall and I want to thank those of you who didn't follow me for that amount of time, but still took the time to read a few chapters here and there. It really means the world to me.**

* * *

><p><strong>Update 62/14 - Sequel To Fill A Void has been published. **


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